This past Saturday, I found myself around a friend’s kitchen table — coffee cups full, chairs pulled close, the comfortable hum of people who trust each other enough to say what they’re really thinking. We gather every Shabbat afternoon after synagogue services. That part wasn’t new. But this Saturday felt different. We had all woken up […]

This week, I walked past a wall I’ve passed every single day since I started at the JCC in the fall of 2024. And for the first time, it was empty. The photo above shows that wall — blank as of earlier this week — but for more than a year it held the faces […]

Dear JCC Indianapolis Members and Friends,  In recent days, we have witnessed images of hostages returning home — scenes that have gripped the Jewish world and stirred something deep within all of us. The faces of those coming back to their families after two years of living in hellish captivity remind us that return is […]

Do you know that feeling of relief when a weight lifts off your shoulders — a weight you didn’t even realize you were carrying? That’s exactly how I felt last night at dinner with Jewish community leaders Beth and Steve Klapper and two of their daughters. JCC Board Chair David Katz, our spouses, and me […]

Around dinnertime Monday evening, my phone lit up. Typically, I wouldn’t answer the phone during designated family time, but this caller was special.   It was retired US Marine General Charles Krulak, a former Commandant of the Marine Corps and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton. For nearly 15 years, […]

A good friend, whose opinion on current events, Israel, and antisemitism I deeply value and respect, and I were texting back and forth late Wednesday night. I told her that for this week’s Friday message, I felt like my Jewish values were calling me to write about the continued suffering of the remaining 50 hostages and […]

As a former professional basketball player for Maccabi Ashdod (in Israel and Eurocup) and for Israel’s national team, coming to Indiana to play college basketball was a natural fit for Shira, though it was worlds away from where she grew up. “Ashdod is right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, so I love surfing […]

The J was thrilled to send two staff members and two teen athletes to Israel this spring and summer, as Myranda Tetzlaff, Director of CampJCC and Youth, was part of the national Jewish Community Center Association’s inaugural Martin Pear Fellowship, which enables JCC professionals to build and strengthen connections between their JCC communities and Israel, […]