Jewish Life

Join our community of grandparents, family members and professionals by reading these stories and essays and submitting your own posts to: info@jewishgrandparentsnetwork.org

Click HERE for guidelines for posts on the Jewish Grandparents Network website.

Shabbat Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring Shabbat to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 14 downloadable pages include:…

Shavuot Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring Shavuot to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 13 downloadable pages include:…

Passover Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring Passover to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 17 downloadable pages include:…

Purim Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring Purim to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 13 downloadable pages include:…

Hanukkah Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring Hanukkah to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 15 downloadable pages include:…

Rosh Hashanah Family Reflections

Prompts for family members to reflect on their family relationships

High Holidays Discovery Kit

This interactive guide is designed especially for grandparents and grandchildren (ages 3–8) to use together — either in person or at a distance. The kit offers ideas and activities to bring the Jewish High Holidays to life through play, imagination, and hands-on discovery. The 15…

A Seat at the Table: Making Memories with Your Teenage Grandchild This Passover

Across time and geography, memory is how we Jews come to understand our past. The Torah elevates memory to mitzvah (commandment) status, for example, Remember the Sabbath day and Do not oppress strangers (remember we were once strangers in Egypt). Our tradition reminds us of our collective responsibility to memory.

Ten-Minute Dayenu Seder

Passover begins on the evening of April 22, 2024.
Once again, this night will truly be different from all other nights. Our updated “Ten-Minute Dayenu Seder” is designed for multi-generational family seders whether held in person, virtually or a combination of both.

Grandparent Ambassadors Draw in Peers with Personal Touch at JCC Detroit

This Passover, the Jewish Grandparents Network spotlights the Grandparent Ambassadors of the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit. Terry Kaye, JGN’s Director of Creative Partnerships, spoke with the JCC’s Mikki Frank, Senior Director of Jfamily, and Judy Loebl, Chief Program Officer.

Interview with Dr. Erica Brown about Megillat Esther

Dr. Erica Brown’s most recent book was on Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther that tells the Purim story). JGN Co-founder and CEO David Raphael interviewed Dr. Brown shortly before Purim 2022. Dr Brown is Savti to four grandchildren. Megillat Esther is one of two…

Purim Activities to Do With Your Grandchildren Ages 3–8

Editor’s note: JGN Facebook member Andrea Gardner regularly shares practical and fun activities she does with her grandchildren. In this piece for our Purim newsletter Andrea writes about her planned activities for her grandchildren. My grandchildren are four and six years old and these are…

An Insider’s Guide to Observing Purim

“And Mordechai wrote down these things and sent missives to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Achashverosh — near and far — to inform them that every year henceforth, they should make the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month…

Grogger Reflections from a Big Ol’ Blow Hard

Editor’s Note: Purim is a holiday of wonderful joy and mirth. We wear costumes, make noise, and eat yummy hamantaschen. Among the traditions for the holiday are Purim Spiels, comical performances held in synagogues, community centers, and education programs. Please consider the musings below a…

Tu BiShvat and Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This year, Tu BiSh’vat and Martin Luther King Jr. Day fall on the same day — January 17, 2022. The convergence of these two seemingly unrelated holidays gives us an opportunity to explore two important issues of our time: climate justice and social justice.