As we approach the first night of Hanukkah on Saturday night (12/24), I want to give you nine reasons I am happy to be part of the CSS community: Our outstanding office staff led by Joanne Marquisee, who toil quietly…
Torah Thoughts – Vayishlach
Just the other day I was talking to a CSS family whose child just celebrated a Bar Mitzvah. How quickly it went they told me. Ah, but I told them, how long the memories last. These ah-ha moments in life…
Torah Thoughts Vayeitze
In the story of Jacob and his family, basically everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. He intends to marry Rachel, and he ends up marrying Leah as well, he intends to work for seven years for his father-in-law…
Torah Thoughts – Toldot
Examples of twins in ancient mythology abound. There is Romulus and Remus from Ancient Rome, Apollo and Artemis from the Ancient Greeks, Ohrmuzd (God of Light) and Ahriman (God of Darkness) of Ancient Persia, and Osiris and Set from the…
Torah Thoughts – Chaye Sarah
Thanksgiving is the time when many of us come together in our individual families. How nice to be together on a happy occasion and to have it on our calendars every year. In this week’s Torah portion, Chaye Sarah, Abraham…
Torah Thoughts – Vayera
If ever there was an example of actions speaking louder than words, it would be in this week’s Torah portion, Vayera, when Abraham and Sarah rush to accommodate their three guests. In no time at all, The guests feet are…
Torah Thoughts – Lech Lecha
In 2003, my sister and I took a trip to Germany to see places we had lived as children. My dad was a dentist in the US Army and we had been stationed for several years in Aschaffenburg, Germany. As…
Torah Thoughts – Noah
These days “tiny houses” are in. While the typical American family home is over 2600 square feet, a tiny house is between 100 to 400 square feet. People may choose to build a tiny house because of environmental or financial…
Torah Thoughts – Bereishit
Amazingly, sometime in the next few days a new World Series Champion will be crowned and it will be a team from a city that has not won a World Series in well over either a half a century or…
Torah Thoughts – Simchat Torah
Almost forty years ago one of our Torahs went on a journey. Dr. Paul Davis was in Israel on a tour when it came to him that he wanted to purchase a Torah. In Jerusalem he found a scribe and…