Rachel Isaacs

Nov 30, 2024 | jpost.com | Rachel Isaacs

At this moment in American history, we must affirm the importance of recognizing the perseverance of small-town communities, their unique challenges, and instructive blessings.

Sep 4, 2024 | myjewishlearning.com | Rachel Isaacs

I never expected to be the kind of parent whose heart hurt every day their kid was at camp. Before I had kids, I would roll my eyes at parents who complained there weren’t enough pictures of their kids posted on the camp website. And yet, the first two weeks away from my eldest caused unexpected, physical heartache. I wanted more pictures. I wanted hugs. But there was an unexpected gift in the distance. When our family was reunited at the end of the summer, there was an abundance of love.

Aug 27, 2024 | myjewishlearning.com | Rachel Isaacs |Jonathan Sacks

I recently made a parenting error, one that will probably not be my last. After a long weekend afternoon, I thought The Breakfast Club would be a wonderful family movie for us to watch. I remembered Molly Ringwald’s indelible performance, the now-classic soundtrack and the evocative scenes of an all-American high school. I forgot a lot too — the language, the jokes and a lot of the cruelty. Yet this iconic movie teaches us some profound lessons.

Jul 24, 2024 | myjewishlearning.com | Rachel Isaacs

Billy Joel was always with me in my New Jersey high school days, but only in adulthood have I come to understand that those 1980s pop songs that served as the background to my adolescence conveyed deep messages worthy of my attention.

Dec 8, 2023 | sapirjournal.org | Rachel Isaacs

On Simchat Torah in the fall of 2020, 50 members of my community marched around the outside of our small synagogue in Waterville, Maine, singing together. We had made an ostensibly risky choice in this first holiday season of the pandemic: We joined together to pray in person. Even though rural Maine often felt removed from the worst of things, we knew individuals dying in local hospitals, and family and friends in major cities described a world that was terrifying.