Rabbi Bonnie Koppell
We call on God as Avinu, Malkenu- our Father, our King, or, perhaps, our Parent, our Ruler. In her book, Nurture the Wow, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg quotes William Thackeray, “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” (p. 109) When we reach out to…
My mom spent much of her career as a math teacher and as comptroller of a real estate company. My dad, alav hashalom, was an accountant. I have two brothers, Michael and Philip- both accountants. I, on the other hand? The last math class that I completed was 10th grade…
The new year is upon us. Our book of life lies open before us. We like to think that we have the luxury of time and many, many blank pages to fill in with fun and exciting moments as well as moments of depth and meaning. We pause, now, to…
So, I almost died this year. It happened in June, on vacation in Florida. I borrowed my Aunt Faith’s bicycle, which had canvas toe cages affixed to the pedals. Never having used these before, I came to a stop, couldn’t extricate my foot in time, and keeled over. No big…
I must admit that until the ads for “My Pillow,” I did not know that there was such a thing as “The National Sleep Foundation.” Did you? When I was a kid, Serta made mattresses and I really have no clue where pillows came from, and that was pretty much…
For the last year or so, I have been working out at “Orange Theory” at Tatum and Shea, though there are Orange Theory franchises all over. I like the 1-hour interval concept, and I love not having to think about my exercise routine. Walk in, one hour later, walk out-…
a) One who has crossed the ocean(an overseas flight travel, etc.) b) One who has crossed the desert c) One who recovered from a very serious illness d) One who was released from Included in the category of desert are all other life threatening situations from which one is saved…
Simcha Lev ben Tzvi v’Channah Leo Saul Koppell- 174. Born in Brooklyn, NY- 3/30/33, the eldest of Harold and Jessie’s two boys. When I was little, for the longest time I thought that his middle name was “Salt.” Leo survived his brother Eddie by almost 10 years, and he…
When I first raised my hand 37 years ago and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States I had no idea what I was doing. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, near what was then the US Army Chaplain School at Fort Hamilton, NY. Knowing that I wanted…
Would you like to save your soul? Not a question we Jews normally ask, yet, this week’s parsha, Ki Tissa, comes to teach us precisely that- how to save our souls. The answer can be summarized in one word- giving. As the portion opens, Moses is taking a census of…