שמחה · simcha
A place to learn a little about Jewish life through the things that bring it joy — and to read the columns the community looks forward to each week. The doors are wide: the curious, the allies, and the simply delighted are all welcome.
learn while you quack
Short, friendly reads — no background needed. Pick whatever looks warmest.
One day a week, the world goes quiet. Candles Friday at sundown, challah and wine, and a full day to rest, eat, and just be — until three stars come out Saturday night.
Read more →A calendar built for celebrating: Purim costumes and noisemakers, a Sukkah open to the sky, the growing candlelight of Chanukah, the dancing of Simchat Torah.
Read more →A good deed with weight behind it — a commandment and a kindness at once. A duck hidden for a stranger is a tiny one that floats.
Read more →שלום shalom (peace, hello, goodbye) · שמחה simcha (joy) · מזל mazel (luck) · תודה todah (thanks). A few words that carry a lot.
Read more →Giving, as an obligation more than a mood — the Hebrew shares a root with the word for justice. Kindness you do because it is right, not only when you feel like it.
Read more →So much Jewish joy happens over food — braided bread on Friday night, a seder that runs past midnight, a bat mitzvah where the ducks end up on the tables.
Read more →There's a blessing for bread, for wine, for a rainbow, for the first bite of fruit in a season, for seeing an old friend. A tradition of catching the small wonders before they pass.
Read more →The joyful markers of a life — a baby welcomed and named, a bar or bat mitzvah at thirteen, a wedding under the chuppah, and dancing at every one of them.
Read more →read · reflect · kvell
Two weekly columns, free to read — a turn through the Torah portion and a catch of everyday sparks. New pieces land here each week.
by Uriel ben AvrahamEach week, Uri takes the Torah portion and goes looking for the joy in it — Sarah laughing at ninety, silver trumpets sounded for a simcha, Miriam and the women dancing at the edge of the sea. A parsha, a story from the week, and the joy where the two meet.
by Rabbi Ze'ev SmasonRabbi Smason finds the spiritual in the everyday — a bar of chocolate, a laundry basket, the person you are when no one's looking. Three ideas, two quotes, one question, every week.
We're always welcoming new columnists on Jewish joy — a weekly parsha turn, a spark from the everyday, something new. Pitch a column and join the roster.
the flock's own joy
A duck on a bat mitzvah table, a JCC block party, a burger joint in Athens — real moments Quackers have shared. Yours belongs right here too.
Jerusalem, Israel
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Dunwoody, Georgia, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Athens, Greeceyour turn
A recipe, a blessing, a photo, a small win — found a duck, or made someone's day? Tell the flock. Every sighting we share started with someone hitting submit.
