Rachel Petroff Kessler
S Blog: You have always known Torah
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
“Is that story true?” That is what my students always wanted to know. Did the sea really part? Did God really speak to Abraham? Did Adam and Eve really eat fruit and end up banished from the Garden?
And never was my class of six year olds more incredulous than after hearing the [...]
S Blog: Aiming for Confidence, not Certainty, in the Classroom
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
I was taught to live a life of balance – to be confident, but not cocky. Reflective, but not inactive. My parents and professors have tried to help to believe that I was talented and good at what I do, but also that there is always more to learn and ways to [...]
S Blog: Is Being Frugal Enough?
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
I’ve never considered myself immune to our society’s consumerist culture. I want. Always have. When I was young I used to pour over the American Girl catalog. In middle school, I obsessed over the Delias clothes catalog. Today, cookware and furniture are the most common items of attention. The subject may have [...]
Sh’ma Blog: An American Voter in Jerusalem
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
I was studying abroad at Hebrew University when Bush bested Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election. A Brandeis alumna living in the neighborhood of French Hill (near the University’s Mt. Scopus campus) graciously opened up her home to Brandeis students to watch the returns come in. And so I tagged along as [...]
Sh’ma Blog: Building a Jewish Practice: Circle, Line, or Spiral?
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
I continue to find my place as a Jewish professional, with an eye on what will sustain me and my family during what I hope will be a long career in the field, and not lead to burn out after a few short years. I know that this effort will be life-long, [...]
Sh’ma Blog: Struggling to connect with the UN
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
A few years ago I took a tour of the United Nations. I took a lot of pictures and recall having a generally enjoyable afternoon. But to be perfectly honest, deep thoughts about the United Nations cross my mind approximately once every blue moon. I am probably one of the people Steven [...]
Sh’ma Blog: Help Me Make a Tzedakah Plan!
BY: RACHEL PETROFF KESSLER
When I was little, giving Tzedakah was fairly straight forward. A portion of your allowance? Into the tzedakah box. Find a penny on the street? Into the tzedakah box it goes. Then once or twice a year, we’d dump all the money out onto the dining room table and count it up, [...]
Sh’ma Blog: From Bat Mitzvah to Marriage: Reconsidering the Akeidah
By: Rachel Petroff Kessler
When I was thirteen, I stood on the bimah in front of my community and chanted from the Book of Judges about Jepthah’s sacrifice of his unnamed daughter after promising to offer to God the first thing that came to greet him when he arrived home victorious (I’m sorry but really, did [...]
