Mitzvah Stories

Crafted by acclaimed author and educator, Shoshana Silberman*, this free discussion guide for groups, book clubs and classes, will help deepen learning and build community through discussion of the provocative new adult-level collection Mitzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning.

*Author of A Family Haggadah, Shema Yisrael Siddur, The Whole Megillah, Tiku Shofar & Active Jewish Learning.

"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.

This review by Rabbi Goldie Milgram first appeared in the Philadelphia Jewish Voice.

Looking for Me…in This Great Big Family by Betsy R. Rosenthal is a powerful free-verse lament about the burdens of growing up in a large family. Laments are an important part of mobilizing oneself toward healing. This novel offers numerous worthwhile teachable moments for parents and educators who gift or assign it. The rising rates of

Midwifing a couple through a divorce ritual is challenging. Often clergy are doing this for people we know, respect, and have come to care for greatly - both of them. Our task is to help two souls disentwine, to remove the kiddushin, the "holiness," that sanctified them as for each other alone.

"The Silver Ring"

Two weeks before my bat mitzvah, my mother took me over to her jewelry drawer. She lifted out a silver ring with a turquoise stone in it that had cracks filled with drizzled in gold. "This is my bat mitzvah present for you. This ring is full of special memories and it comes with a blessing." She slipped it onto my right hand ring finger. A perfect fit. "What kind of memories? What do you mean it comes with a blessing?"