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Family Weekend Just Before Rosh Hashanah

This Fall 2024 UAlbany’s Family Weekend falls just a few days before Rosh Hashanah. What’s the message, lesson, connection?

If you look at a Rosh Hashanah prayer service, there are two striking aspects, and you can say that one is … Read the rest

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Tzedakah Connects You TO:

We did a Torah-Tuesday series on “Connection and Accessibility” with classes on Elul, Torah, Prayer and Tzedakah (Avot’s 3 Pillars upon which the world rests). The last class was on Tzedakah – charity and acts of kindness.

One of the … Read the rest

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The Generator Story

This Generator story goes back to the construction of the all-new, bigger and better Shabbos House in 2009. Part of the construction plans included a built in generator system attached to the natural gas line that would kick in during … Read the rest

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Where I Was Standing on 9/11/2001 – & Flashbulb Memories

9/11 is one of those events that people tend to remember exactly where they were standing when they first heard the news.  

In my case, I was teaching that morning. One of the classes I taught then and still teach … Read the rest

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From Emek Jezreel to Albany NY

On the first Shabbat in September 2024, early in the Fall semester, Parshat Shoftim, we hosted 3 Israeli college students from Emek Jezreel College in Afula, along with their Chabad on Campus Rabbi Eliav Ben-Attar for a full Shabbat with … Read the rest

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The Line Painting Truck

Our daughter needed proof of residency and it was due on Friday so we rushed out to Guilderland Town Hall all the way down Western Ave. The process took 5 minutes but the way back took forever. There were signs … Read the rest

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Thoughts on “Door Ajar” Theme

The 2024 Shabbos House giveaway, is a useful* Mason-Jar that reads “Our Door is Always A-Jar for You!”  — so here’s a thread of thoughts on this “door ajar” concept:

In the Midrash of Song of Songs 5, G-d tells … Read the rest

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Venue (& Horse) Uncertainty…

We’ve been working the last few weeks to arrange for the “Let HERE Be Light!” Tour coupled with a live Nissim Black concert to come to UAlbany. So many things had to align, Nissim’s schedule, the Chabad on Campus tour … Read the rest

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Two Lost & Found Stories

… in one week at UAlbany – and a message for us on Opening Weekend of a new semester:

THE LOST KEY FOB

One day this week a Toyota key fob appeared on our front porch table. Someone either put … Read the rest

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Five Wavelengths of Personal Relations

One of the mini-reunions this summer is once again hosted by 5WPR (a PR firm in NYC headed by Ronn Torossian, a UAlbany alumnus). They are now located on Park Avenue in Midtown. A few years ago when they were … Read the rest

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