WORDS THAT BREATHE

Parenting adult children requires new skills and a fresh perspective. Drawing from Torah wisdom, expert insights, and personal experiences, Rabbi Paul Kipnes explores the joys and challenges of this transformative phase. Discover how to foster deeper, more authentic connections with your adult children to support this sacred work.

Wisdom to ensure you don’t let political disruptions ruin your Thanksgiving dinner

In this spoken word poem, explore how Abraham's parents might have felt as he went off from Haran to the Promised Land, in search of his future.

Write a letter or a make a video to your future self who will exist five or six months from now. Remind yourself about the silver linings you want to continue to embrace. Maybe, just maybe, you will listen to yourself.

Spoken word poetry about seeing Dad in the mirror, and seeing dad within me.

I always wondered how my Dad gained all that wisdom and I wondered if I would ever gain that depth of wisdom to be able to help my children when they needed to navigate their lives.

Be a Mensch, that's what Or Ami's innovative parenting and pre-K to 6th grade learning program is all about. Mensch-ify my Kid, Mensch-ify my Home, Mensch-ify my Playground.

How might synagogues and Jewish communities respond to the needs of teens to express their inner turmoil and to learn new techniques for managing stress and emotional exhaustion?

The rabbis and cantor of Congregation Or Ami sent this letter about sexual violence to our adult congregants, our 9th-12th graders, recent high school graduates (18-22 year olds), and our faculty. We also sent a note to parents of 7th-12th graders with suggestions on conversations with their children.

Reflections on holding a newborn baby

Why did Congregation Or Ami focus our energies on creating a mental health and wellness retreat? Because today's teens are particularly stressed out, overwhelmed by anxiety, buffetted by the emotional turmoil engendered by social media. They crave support and relief.

It is time for us to lift the veil of silence around mental illness, talking about it and our mental health journeys. Especially in the Jewish community.

A mother speaks about her appreciation that the Congregation Or Ami and its rabbis offered deep support for their daughter on her battle with depression.

Teen Dani, an 11th grader, shared her mental health journey (through depression) to an overflowing synagogue on Yom Kippur.

What are Isaac's thoughts on the Akedah, when his dad almost sacrificed him? A first person perspective about sons and fathers.

Devoted, history-holding, once-in-a-blue-moon-visiting friends are a transcendent gift from God.

Authors Night with Host Karyn Foley at the Calabasas Library. Rabbi Paul Kipnes and Michelle November, MSSW, who co-authored the book, "Jewish Spiritual Parenting: Wisdom, Activities, Rituals and Prayers for Raising Children with Spiritual Balance and Emotional Wholeness," explore spiritually nourishing approaches to help you foster essential Jewish values like gratitude, joy and honesty in your children.

I sent this text to my children, on Inauguration Day - 1/20/17

A prayer for after the Election

The clergy of Congregation Or Ami (Calabasas) share their vision of the synagogue as a sanctuary of kindness, your second home.