Rob Dobrusin
20 Aug
Beshert, Latest

Beshert | Roadside Assistance

It happened shortly after 8 on a summer Sunday morning. I was driving on a rural section of Interstate 75 in Northern Michigan on my way to Mackinac Island to officiate at a wedding. I had left home at 5 a.m. for the four-and-a-half-hour trip, allowing extra time so that I wouldn’t feel so rushed to make my 12:30 p.m. ferry reservation. The extra time was especially important as this was my first lengthy drive since recovering from a rather significant surgery six weeks before.  The drive started out perfectly. I was singing along with the radio, thinking about the d’var Torah I had written for the wedding when I suddenly heard a noise. It concerned me but I put it out of my mind quickly. Then, a few minutes later, the car started bumping fiercely...

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26 Dec
Archives from the past..., Latest, Religion

Always a "Moment" Ahead of the Curve

One of the great things about Moment is that through its 36-year history, it has documented breaking trends in Jewish life with insight and forward-looking prowess.  Our last cover story, "A Woman Orthodox Rabbi?" made a splash in the Jewish community.  But a peek through our archives unveiled that Moment was ahead of the curve on the evolution of women in Orthodox Judaism.  Exactly 17 years ago, our cover story delved into the same issue, anticipating some of the breakthroughs that took nearly two decades to to come to fruition: For your reading pleasure, InTheMoment is giving you exclusive access to this fascinating story from our archives, which is all the more enlightening in light of our last issue.  Enjoy!

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29 Dec
Latest

The Cat's Meow

By Symi Rom-Rymer While perusing the bookshelves at Barnes and Nobel yesterday, I came across a wonderful graphic novel entitled The Rabbi’s Cat by the French author, Joann Sfar, best known in the US for his children’s series, The Little Vampire.  The Rabbi’s Cat tells the story of a Rabbi, his daughter Zlabya, and their talking cat who live in Algiers in the 1930s when Algeria was still part of France.  Narrated by the cat, who is studying to become Bar Mitzvah, the intricate illustrations and the gentle, yet poignant story line draws readers into a seemingly simple world that soon reveals itself in all its complexities.  Situated on the line between perfect and flawed, wise and bumbling, sacred and profane, Sfar’s characters made me nostalgic for a time and place that exists only within his,...

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