Today’s a big day and here’s why…It’s our 1 Year Anniversary/Birthday! For the last year we have worked hard to bring you content that helps you connect to Judaism in many different ways – and we’ve had a blast.
We can’t believe a year has gone by already! Instead of one of our usual posts, we wanted to do something special. We’re taking a trip down memory lane and highlighting some of our favorite posts from this past year.
With all the posts we’ve written this year, we’re bound to have some favorites. Right? I’m sure you do, too. Here are ours!
Amanda’s favorite posts include our responses to world events and alternative ways of connecting to text. Our “Lead With Kindness” post, posted after we found out the results of the election, had us relating Chayei Sarah to our current political climate. We reminded ourselves, and you, to choose kindness and hope. These are two of my favorite themes to write about. The ugliness that has plagued this world can be very disheartening, and I love when I am able to remind myself of the beautiful occurrences in our world. I love when I am able to remind my students of the positive events happening when we are in a world of chaos. Celebrating diversity and the accomplishments of People of Color in our posts, and in my teaching have always helped me have hope and remember there is kindness out there.
Another one of my favorite posts is a recent one! “Your Ten Commandments”, while written as a way to help you connect to the Ten Commandments, also helped me connect. In this time of uncertainty (there’s that buzzword again) it can be hard to make yourself fit our traditions when so many of those traditions are difficult to fulfill. Making the tradition fit to us is what helps us to connect most and make sure we are getting as much as we can out of our tradition.
Of course I love our posts where we recommend music and movies. We have the most fun when we hop on Zoom and create playlists that can help you connect with and get excited for holidays. Creating “It’s Lit – A Hanukkah Playlist” and “Music That’s Even Sweeter Than Your Manischewitz”, was so, so fun!
Marissa’s favorite posts also include our responses to world events. It can be challenging to find the right words to say in these difficult times, but it always results in a rewarding post. Honestly, posts on tough topics (not just current events) are some of my favorites because of this. When it comes to political posts, “Lead With Kindness” and “Hatred Begets Hatred” are two of my favorites. I also really enjoyed our posts “Consent is Sexy” because it not only tackles the topic of consent (which can be a challenging topic) but it also touches upon a more obscure part of that week’s Torah portion (something else I enjoy doing).
In addition, I have also loved our posts where we got to be a little more creative like our Chanukah series where we got to share our favorite Chanukah songs, Chanukah movies & TV specials, and our favorite holiday movies. I honestly just love getting to share my favorite things with you all any chance I get. I love the posts where I’m able to connect my favorite shows and movies and share them with you (like talking about Steve Rogers or Disney movies).
Last, a post that is very special to me is “Getting Swallowed by the Earth – Who, When & Why?” for a number of reasons. The first being that we discuss Korach which was my Bat Mitzvah portion. The other reason is that in this post we critique the different “characters” in the portion. I enjoy exploring the idea that no one, not even G-d, is perfect. I feel like it’s an idea not often discussed, but it should be.
With all that we’ve accomplished in the past year, we’re excited to continue to grow and learn with you in the coming year. To kick off our second year of being, we’ve revamped our website! We hope you enjoy the new look and find it easy to navigate as we continue to add more content.
Now, let’s put on our party hats and celebrate!
Thank you for taking this journey with us. Keep your seatbelts on for another year of adventure!
Stay warm, wear a mask, and wash your hands.
Love always,
Amanda & Marissa
