There is an interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times about Roman Blum. Mr. Blum was a Holocaust survivor who became a successful real estate developer. He and his wife didn’t have any children. He outlived his wife, and recently…

It was the 1960s in Belmont, Massachusetts. In suburban Boston. The very next town to Watertown. Our front door was always unlocked. It was a time when kids came home from school for lunch. There weren’t many marathons back then.…

My grandmother came from Ostropolia, Ukraine. She arrived in the United States as a teenager some time around 1920. She was the oldest child in her family, with two brothers and two sisters. She worked and saved her money. When…

Every synagogue has a congregant like Jack. He and his wife have been members since they moved to the community more than 40 years ago. He is a past president, organizes the synagogue’s cadre of volunteers at the local hospitals…

Synagogue leaders have often asked me whether they should engage fundraising counsel to conduct a feasibility study. The leadership knows that they need to raise several million dollars to renovate the building and to start an endowment fund. Why can’t…