Articles by Miriam Herst

Searching for Kindness: Reactions to the Events Surrounding Ferguson and Eric Garner

By Miriam Herst • Published: December 11, 2014 • Comment ()
Ferguson,_Day_4,_Photo_26

I was raised in an equal opportunity home where I was encouraged not to discriminate based on the color of someone’s skin, and I grew up in a community where derogatory comments were frequent and racist remarks almost as common as prayers. I have some friends who grew up in Brooklyn and they have it […]

The Observer’s Holiday Gift Guide

By Miriam Herst • Published: December 11, 2014 • Comment ()

You know that the holiday season is in full swing once the ‘Believe’ sign is suddenly twinkling down at you from above Macy’s and the homeless guys who frequent your morning commute start singing about holiday cheer. You think to yourself, is it December already? Was that Thanksgiving, or just an extra large (and long) […]

Not Such Festive Lights

By Miriam Herst • Published: November 13, 2014 • Comment ()

I’ve been spending my evenings with the Gilmores lately, nestled in a small fictitious Connecticut town called Stars Hollow where each of the holidays is a call for a festival or celebration of some kind. This marathon obsession with the long-over Gilmore Girls is the source of my high expectations for the New York Festival […]

My Birth Right

By Miriam Herst • Published: August 19, 2014 • Comment ()

I found myself walking the streets of Tzfat a few weeks ago, trying my best to taste the spirituality I had been promised; looking for shadows of lost prophecies, promises of the path Messiah will one day walk, faded footprints of rabbis whose teachings I’ve long studied. Instead there was blended iced coffee, thick summer […]

The Legacy of the Rav and the Rebbe

By Miriam Herst • Published: May 12, 2014 • Comment ()

A steady buzz filled Yeshiva University’s Lamport Auditorium as over 700 people arrived for the highly anticipated evening titled “Living the Legacy of the Rebbe and the Rav”. The discussion focused on the special relationship between the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Reb Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, featuring prominent speakers from both the YU […]