Rabbi's Weekly Message
My Yiddishe Mame
December 29, 2025
We wrapped up Chanukah with an inspiring Menorah lighting in downtown Bozeman with 200+ in attendance along with Senator Tim Sheehy and his family, MSU President Brock Tessman and his family and Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp. The mood was one of resilience, warmth and Jewish pride. On Sunday-Monday we also ran our 36-hour annual year-end fundraiser (if you haven’t had a chance to donate, you still can, click here) with over 300 individual donors including from Ilene and Heshy, two unrelated Jews who always donate in gratitude to my mother of blessed memory. Ilene used to work in Bloomingdales and befriended my mom back in the late 90’s when she’d shop there. Heshy is a five-star event planner foodie and when he was very young, he met my mother and enjoyed her awesome chocolate chip cookies with a taste of her heart of gold.
Montana's Jewish voice
Quarterly Publication by Chabad-Lubavitch of Montana
A mashup of thoughts, ideas, news, and stories about this unique outpost of Jewish life in the West. Remote Jewish communities are as old as time, but this remote Jewish community is young, vibrant, and growing. Our saga draws on age-old Jewish values, quintessential Western grit, and the idealistic fire of four Chabad Families. Curious, complex, and committed, they model the highs and lows of being human, the relevance of being Jewish, and simmering, lasting courage to perservere.
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Totally Unexpected! Blog
Welcome to Totally Unexpected! Where you can find my free flowing, stream of consciousness, unfiltered thoughts, and ideas. I process the twists and turns of life by sharing it with you. I hope this also helps you process your own struggles and joys.
I think of myself as a juggler: leading a Jewish community with my sushi loving husband, caring for my five rambunctious kids (who are adopted), and living in the Wild West of Montana, where it’s ALWAYS winter (or so it feels). It’s an art to be juggler, to live our fullest potential and still have very real lives. Not the perfect, glossy, manicured ones we so often encounter. I am here to be real.
I think of myself as a juggler: leading a Jewish community with my sushi loving husband, caring for my five rambunctious kids (who are adopted), and living in the Wild West of Montana, where it’s ALWAYS winter (or so it feels). It’s an art to be juggler, to live our fullest potential and still have very real lives. Not the perfect, glossy, manicured ones we so often encounter. I am here to be real.
Totally Unexpected! Podcast
I love people and I love hearing their stories. I want to know who they are, how they got there, what didn’t go as expected, and what they did about it. That passion and curiosity led me to create “Totally Unexpected!” A podcast featuring interviews with guests who inspire me. Whether it’s the mom next door, the enlightened academic, or the maverick healer, I am here to learn about their unique contribution to our world.
