These days Dorcas and I don’t talk anymore. But there was a time when she was the most spiritual person I knew, a person I looked up to, a person who, despite being Christian, had inspired me to become frum, a person who even Rav Pam described as “a very spiritual woman.”

I was in eleventh grade when my classmate lost her mother to cancer. We had been praying for her mother's recovery for months, and we knew that the situation was getting worse, but somehow we never expected her to die. When you're sixteen years old, death seems very far away.

Moshe leapt from one roof to the next, his heart pounding wildly*. His two pursuers leapt after him, spears pointed at his back. They had been chasing him for what seemed like an eternity, but finally Moshe saw his escape. The gap between the roof he was standing upon and the roof to the right was so big that...

While traditional dreidels are made from wood and shaped like a square with a rounded or pointed bottom and short handle on top, modern-day artists have put a new spin on this old-fashioned design. Contemporary Judaica craftsmen have also turned to new materials, discarding wood in favor of metal, ceramic, stone and glass.

Candles, dreidel, menorot and sufganiyot... a Chanukah constellation around every corner.

Those eight tiny sparks of light we kindle each year on the 25th of Kislev are not only a witness and potent reminder of a miracle of long ago. They are an emotional experience which evokes countless memories and images… A flame is a flickering picture, a reflection of whatever is stored in our minds and hearts... Maaleh Adumim is a relatively young city, full of flickering lights. A short walk around the outskirts brings to mind the description in Tehillim – Yerushalayim harim saviv lah – Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains. So is Maaleh Adumim.

When Paul Simon wrote "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…" DiMaggio pointed out he was right there...

As with all Jewish holidays, Chanukah is not just a time to reflect on the past, but also a time to examine the present... This year, during the month of Chanukah, it was not hard for my family and friends to recognize the personal miracle that G-d had performed for us.