Testimonials
Responses to Bread and Torah Programs
To say this was an incredibly unique experience would be an understatement. It was quite clear that everyone who learned from Rabbi Linda was fascinated, engaged, and in awe of the hands-on experience they received over the course of the weekend. When I tell you that every student had a smile on their face while learning from Rabbi Jonathan, I am not exaggerating. I truly believe our weekend with Bread and Torah will be a highlight of the year for our community. Both Rabbi Linda and Rabbi Jonathan were absolutely delightful teachers whose passion and knowledge about their workshops was inspiring and engaging. We look forward to the day when we welcome Bread and Torah back to our community to continue learning together.
Zina Zimmerman, Director of Youth Education and Programming, Temple Beth Shalom, Spokane, WA
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From Congregation Beth Israel, Carmel, CA:
We enjoyed an absolutely fantastic scholar-in-residence weekend with Rabbis Linda and Jonathan. I believe it was the best scholar-in-residence program we have had in the 25 years I have been at CBI. Both Jonathan’s baking and Linda’s work of creating a Torah scroll with our adults and religious school kids were enriching and enlightening. Discovering how an animal hide becomes a piece of Torah parchment and helping with this effort was thrilling. Linda’s slide show helped us understand the entire process of creating a Torah scroll, and our religious school kids were fascinated with it. Then they got to proofread some of the panels that Linda has already completed for her Torah scroll. And they learned not only how to bake delicious challah, but the traditions behind it. We have had some wonderful scholars over the years, but never before have we had such an uplifting, educational, and stimulating hands-on experience.
Rabbi Bruce Greenbaum
I know I will be basking in the energy of this weekend for a long time and so will our community. You and Linda are inspiring teachers and human beings on so many levels… The shared community experience of stretching the hide together made deep impressions and I know will be a favorite among my CBI memories… I got to learn and bake with Rabbi Jonathan and found his teachings to be extremely moving and inspiring as was the story about his passion for baking and how it evolved as part of his work as a rabbi and chaplain.
Rabbis Linda & Jonathan are real pros when it comes to teaching children, as well as adults. Both teach with a passion and sensitivity that was layered with multiple teachings about Bread and Torah while instilling ethics and a deeper desire to live by our Mitzvot. Students were totally engaged, physically and mentally, full of questions, leaning in, curious and full of interesting questions and comments. Their imaginations never cease to amaze me but especially this weekend. I was so engaged myself I felt like one of them!
Cantor Alisa Fineman
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Bread and Torah recently graced our congregation and left so many of our members with memories that will last for life. As master teachers, Rabbis Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein bring deep learning and contagious passion to their Torah of bread making and scribal arts. They teach in ways that engage, inform, and inspire learners of every age. Rarely have I seen so many youngsters in riveted attention by a presentation as ours were by Rabbi Linda’s on the preparation of a deer skin as a section of parchment.
Bread and Torah epitomizes learning through doing. In my considered opinion, every rabbi or Jewish educator should arrange to bring Bread and Torah to their synagogue.
Rabbi Dan Alexander, Congregation Beth Israel, Charlottesville, Virginia
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I have participated in Bread and Torah programming a few times over the past several years and was thrilled to bring them to my new community Kehilat Lev Shalem. Rabbi Linda and Rabbi Jonathan braid together explorations and engagement with Bread and Torah into a full program of learning, and hands-on experience. As I took part in proofreading and stitching the Torah scroll, I was filled with awe and gratitude to be one of the many hands and hearts that have been a part of this holy project. Enjoying bagels made in community at the end was deeply grounding. Rabbis Linda and Jonathan both utilize the earthly realms of plants and animals and imbue them with deep spiritual kavannah. This is the work of repairing the world.
Arielle Aronoff, Kehilat Lev Shalem. Woodstock Jewish Congregation, Woodstock, NY
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After participating in a wonderful weekend of Bread and Torah learning, I feel sated in body and mind. From challah to babka, Rabbi Rubenstein taught us how to shape a loaf, share our bounty and protect our earth. Rabbi Motzkin inspired us with her Community Torah Project and helped us discover holiness in details, beauty in scraps and the spiritual within the earthy physical. We hope to engage them again in future years.
Rabbi Alexander Davis, Beth El Synagogue, St. Louis Park, MN
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I cannot thank you enough for the time that you spent with us at Micah. The weekend was truly extraordinary. Your ability to reach and teach so much on so many different levels to such varying age groups is rather remarkable. You truly bring something for everyone. Learning with you is an immersive experience. I think we all loved it.
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel, Temple Micah, Washington, DC
On behalf of the clergy, staff and entire congregation, thank you! I hope you know how special your weekend here was for all of us. You animated and engaged every age cohort in our community, and with your special passion and warmth you left us all energized and refreshed. What a wonderful way to learn! Thank you for your patience, generosity, and for sharing your stories. We will not soon forget this weekend.
Rabbi Susan Landau, Temple Micah, Washington, DC
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From the February 2017 Bread and Torah tour of New Zealand:
Such a wonderful Shabbat! It was the best Jewish experience I have had in New Zealand. On Friday afternoon we had Hebrew calligraphy lessons with Rabbi Linda and Challah baking with Rabbi Jonathan. On Saturday Rabbi Linda and Rabbi Jonathan led us in a beautiful morning worship, guiding us in special prayers to help us take note of our amazing natural surroundings, including a shehecheyanyu for most probably the first Shabbat service ever on the Tongariro Crossing.
Thanks Rabbi Linda and Rabbi Jonathan for all you did. You both really helped to make the shabbaton very special and I know words cannot describe many of the experiences we had this weekend.
Debbie Miller, Director of Education, Beth Shalom Congregation, Auckland, New Zealand
It was wonderful to see the members of the congregation enjoying themselves so much and learning so much – and I ate a lot of babka!
JoEllen Duckor, Mashpia, Spiritual Leader, Temple Sinai, Wellington, New Zealand
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Dear Linda and Jonathan:
I cannot believe that it has been a month since you both joined us Beth Israel for the wonderful Bread and Torah program.
I so thoroughly enjoyed the program and getting to spend time with both of you. I have had the privilege of attending many wonderful scholar-in-residence weekends, and I must say that yours stands out among the rest. It was truly unique and exceptional and the hands-on elements were extraordinary. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from and with you. I loved stretching the hide and really getting a sense of how much more goes into producing a Torah than the writing. Linda, your teaching on Shabbat morning will certainly enhance how I chant Torah from now on and, Jonathan, that bagel could very well be the best one I’ve eaten in my entire life (and that’s no small feat).
We are blessed at BI to have the friendship of people like Jeremy and Michele and I am so delighted that their generosity led you to us.
Cantor Jeri Robins, Congregation Beth Israel, Worcester, MA
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Oh, Linda and Jonathan, the two of you are the BEST. You totally exceeded my expectations. I loved the way you personalized everything for everyone who was there. Everyone who attended gave rave reviews. I cannot thank you enough!
Rabbi Ari Rosenberg, Temple Sholom, New Milford, CT
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Rabbis Linda and Jonathan created incredible Bread and Torah programming tailored to the needs of our community. It was unique, educational, and engaging, for children, teens, and adults of all ages. Several members cited it as a highlight of the year for them at our annual community meeting. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us to get hands-on experience with the sacred process of creating a Torah, from the parchment up, as well as baking and enjoying some of the yummiest baked goods to ever come out of our synagogue kitchen!
Robyn Kozierok, co-President, Congregation Beth El, Bennington, VT
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Dear Linda and Jonathan,
What a blessing to bring you to the Solel community, to share your beautiful gifts. You’ve touched our community with your wisdom, authenticity, caring and healing. You’ve been my teachers of Torah, living our sacred words with such intention and kavanah.
The energy that flowed from your souls will remain with us, infusing us with your love of Torah, the Jewish people, and all people of good will.
Biydidut v’todah
Rabbi John Linder, Temple Solel, Paradise Valley, AZ
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Dear Rabbi Linda:
On behalf of the Lev Shalem Institute, thank you again for sharing your expertise with us at the Scribal Arts Festival, and especially your utterly unique Torah project. It was wonderful to learn from you, and it has been wonderful to have your amazing artwork gracing our lobby. Blessings to you for health and strength on your “magnum opus” scroll!
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Sprinkled with poppy or sesame seeds and gently puffed with a chewy crust and tender, yeasty inside, [Rabbi Jonathan’s bagels] were as good as any revered New York City bakery’s bagel. They were the perfect thing to eat while welcoming the New Year’s first morning….
As we were packing up the car, I grabbed a couple of still-warm bagels and tucked them into a napkin. As a New Yorker, friends living in bagel deserts sometimes ask me to tote along a baker’s dozen for their freezer when I visit. But this time, the bagels were coming home to the city for me.
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Our little “mostly-expat-gringo-Jewish community” in San Miguel de Allende was privileged to have Rabbis Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein in our midst for two months during their recent sabbatical. As we have no formal rabbinical leadership, their presence was a real breath of fresh air! They led some services, gave us talks and hands-on programs on challah baking and Jewish scribal arts, and were genuinely embraced by our community here in central México. Their love of Torah and the Jewish people was evident, and we all pray for their return to San Miguel de Allende in the near future.
In addition, they were so kind to send us some really great books, including Rav Linda’s Hebrew language series which I am now using to teach my Hebrew classes. How wonderful is that?!
Dan Lessner, President, Jewish Cultural and Community Center of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
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Your visit to Temple Beth Avodah this past Sunday was extraordinary! Children and adults are still talking about it and many commented that it one of the finest programs that we have ever had at the synagogue. I could not agree more.
We had the privilege of spending a day with two rabbis, Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein, who traveled from Saratoga Springs, NY to share with us their gifts as a baker and torah scribe, respectively. At first, I was simply overcome with joy at the variety of embodied experiences to explore throughout the day. The sweet scent of cinnamon-glazed rugulach, the beauty and delicate care contained in a single hand-written letter “alef” on a torah scroll, the palpable hum in the air of people proofreading sections of torah, declaring every single letter out loud – “VAV. YUD. ALEF. MEM. RESH.” I took a look around the room, full of folks scattered around either bobbing their heads, deep in a trance of scanning torah panels or joyfully twisting the four strands of the new challah braiding pattern they discovered, and thought, “Wow. This is a Judaism that is alive and breathing.”
The full impact of the event didn’t hit me until the next morning though, as we we finished stretching and preparing a deer hide that will one day be used as part of a sefer torah scroll….
Read full post by Rachel Cohn, participant at Nov 2014 Teva and Adamah program at Isabella Friedman Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT
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Dear Linda and Jonathan – I want to thank you so very much for teaching our students and families at Shir Ami. It was a wonderful morning, filled with knowledge and mitzvot. I have received many messages from parents and students saying how meaningful the morning was, how great it was to learn from you, and how delicious the challah tasted! I wish you all the best and look forward to continuing our relationship with Bread and Torah.
Yasher koach, Eric
Rabbi Eric Goldberg, Shir Ami, Newtown, PA
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I can’t thank you enough for being with us this past weekend. It was wonderful from start to finish… such a great model of hands on learning & teachings that really spoke to everyone’s hearts.
Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman, Temple B’rith Kodesh, Roshester, NY
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Thank you so much for presenting your wonderful program of Bread and Torah to Mountain Top. The children loved it and learned so much from you both. Your program is so appropriate for early childhood, we are so pleased you shared it with us again. Each year we learn more and more from you.
Warmly,
Kathy and the Mountain Top Community
Mountain Top School for Young Children at Temple Har Shalom, Warren, NJ
Where else would Hevreh congregants or anyone in our area have the honor and opportunity to actively participate in viewing, and feeling, the process of seeing a kosher Torah in progress, from the acquisition of the original skins from a kosher animal (in this case deer) through every step of the process to its final product – the parchment upon which a sacred Torah is hand-inscribed. To then go to the scrolls in progress, to proofread a sacred scroll in progress, is awesome!
Couple this with the accompanying experience of having the opportunity to learn about Jewish values through food, and actually make babka filled with a multiplicity of fillers, with a great variety of toppings. Awesome!
Dear Rabbi Jonathan and Rabbi Linda,
Thank you for teaching us to make the challahs. The dough felt squishy and sticky. We liked singing the song while we rolled and braided the challah. The challah tasted sweet, yummy, and delicious.
We loved it when you showed us the Torah and the deerskin and sang the aleph-bet song. We learned that it took many rectangles to make one Torah. We liked being scribes and writing with the turkey feathers.
Thank you for being our special visitors…
Shalom,
The B’nai Israel 4’s classes (B’nai Israel Nursery School, Bridgeport, CT)
Thank you so much for a fascinating and inspiring presentation on the process of writing a Torah. Many people … expressed their gratitude for how much they learned and how good they felt for participating in the proofreading process. It was widely acclaimed as one of the best events that we have hosted. It really brought people closer to God and their faith.
It was such a fantastic pleasure to have you teach at CBST. As I am sure you could tell, the energy in the room was incredible and the shul absolutely fell in love with you. I cannot think of a better way to have launched our Torah project. The congregation’s enthusiasm is tremendous, in no small part because of your teaching.
Considerable buzz lingers about your being with us this past weekend – and all of it is positive and glowing. … you touched the many generations of B’nai Israel with your warmth, knowledge and kindness. …. From the hands on things you do to the more cerebral Torah study – you know how to convey both your love for the material and for the people you teach.
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