Mitzvah Stories

There was a twelve-year-old girl who loved horses. She was preparing to become bat mitzvah and insisted on horseback rides for her friends in the synagogue parking lot as well as centerpieces with famous horses depicted upon them. She also wanted to wear her riding hat when she read Torah. What to do? What’s a parent or rabbi to say?

Reb Goldie: “Ashley, I’m so impressed by your love of animals, especially horses, that I’ve brought you some information from Judaism about animals and horses.”

Hearing of my plans to return and teach in the Ukraine again, Reb Zalman asked if I would travel to the grave of Reb Nachman of Breslov. Now, visiting dead rebbes was not the sort of work I had in mind at that phase of my life. It

The snow storm stopped the life of the city almost completely. In those days we lived in walking distance of Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and often sat “up in heaven,” trudging the many levels up

"A Father's Gift" by Noa Baum (www.noabaum.com) was first published in the Reclaiming Judaism Press release in honor of Peninnah Schram titled: MItzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning.

Barry Bub, MD reveals how Jews from very different parts of the spectrum of Jewish practice can, with thought and preparation, have meaningful connection in this Mitzvah Stories podcast filmed at the Museum for Jewish History, NY, NY. The story is his own, "Tied Together and Worlds Apart," from Mitzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning  - Buy Now

For many years Barry and I wrote spiritual travelogues, here they are compiled as an e-book for summer reading. Enjoy!

Light by Yisroel Bernath - from Mitzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning, Goldie Milgram and Ellen Frankel {Eds] with Peninnah Schram, Cherie Karo-Schwartz and Arthur Strimling, Reclaiming Judaism Press, 2011.

by Benji Levene