Our Stories: Jewish Life in the Lehigh Valley

Jul 13, 2020

Lehigh Valley Holds Menu of Options for Jewish Teens

Often times in today’s world, there is much competition for the attention of teens as they get to high school. Yet, this is also a vital time for teens to cultivate and strengthen their Jewish identity. The Lehigh Valley community offers many options for students to continue to be enga…

Jul 13, 2020

High School Program Brings Jewish Teens Together

Shalshelet is the Hebrew word for chain, and a fitting name for a program bringing together Jewish teens of all denominations from across the Lehigh Valley.

Shalshelet meets twice a month and there is a different topic for each session. The topics are chosen by the feedback of past students…

Jul 13, 2020

Manhattan, Oshkosh ... Allentown: The Best of Both Worlds

By Jodi Eichler-Levine

A few weeks before Passover, I accepted a terrific new job as a professor at Lehigh University. Over spring break, my husband and I flew out to the Lehigh Valley to check out the area: schools, neighborhoods, restaurants and … grocery stores. I stepped into Wegmans …

Jul 13, 2020

Synagogue 7

One Tree, Many Branches: Jewish Clergy Group

The tree with its many branches seems a fitting place for the Lehigh Valley Jewish Clergy Group to gather during one of its monthly meetings. “It’s like an embrace,” Rabbi Seth Phillips of Congregation Keneseth Israel said of the tree, but he could just as well have been referring to …

Jul 13, 2020

Synagogue 7

Synagogues Offer Entree Into Community

Joining a synagogue was always in the back of Lauri Franko’s mind when she moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2006. But life happens; she was busy starting a new job and enrolling the two youngest of her four children in daycare. When she visited one or two synagogues and didn’t find what sh…