The 4-1-1

This former career-driven mother of three became a reluctant stay-at-home-mom when her autistic son and his two adorable sidekicks needed more from her. Formerly known for her popular blog, Frume Sarah’s World, Rebecca Einstein Schorr has embraced the challenge of stepping off the rabbinic pulpit and into the kitchen – some say for the very first time. The transformation from a religious community leader to what her kids call a “house-mother” has been nothing short of life-altering.

When she’s not channeling all of the energy into her duties as chief [read: only] scullery maid or under-appreciated chauffeur, Rebecca writes about the meaning in all the messy parts of her simpler, but not less complicated, life here on her personal blog and various sites including Tablet, The Christian Science Monitor, The Sun, The Jewish Daily Forward, Scary Mommy, and more. She is a Contributing Writer for Kveller.com (parenting site) and The New Normal: Blogging Disability (The Jewish Week), editor of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award-winning anthology, The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, and is the former editor of the newsletter for the Central Conference of American Rabbis — a trade publication that reaches more than 1,800 liberal rabbis across North America and abroad.

With more than a decade of writing experience, she’s written everything from motivational pieces about goal setting to the hunting methods of polar bears. No topic is beyond her mad research skills.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 The Nudnik 05 June 2012 @ 8:48 am at 8:48 am

Will you be enabling email subscriptions?

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2 admin 05 June 2012 @ 9:09 am at 9:09 am

Yes sir! I am looking forward to our continued conversations.

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3 Ginny 30 April 2013 @ 11:01 pm at 11:01 pm

Rebecca, what a fascinating story you have. I’m so glad Pamela “introduced” us! 🙂

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4 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 14 May 2013 @ 4:30 pm at 4:30 pm

Same. And I am so looking forward to enjoying your book this summer when my house is quiet and I have some time to sink beneath its covers.

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5 Nancy Marin 01 May 2013 @ 5:35 pm at 5:35 pm

Dear Rebecca,

Wow. I really hope we can connect sometime face to face. You see, I was a Jewish Educator. I received my Masters in Jewish Education, was a Principal of a synagogue religious school and was on the fast track to becoming a strong educator in the Jewish community. Then the reality of Autism hit. My son has non-verbal autism. It has taken me a full 5 years to adjust to realities and changes we have had to make to accommodate him. Of course, we are still in the process. I am now a religious school teacher and with the help of a very capable babysitter I can teach at my synagogue twice a week (on Thursdays and Sundays). We are struggling to keep our son in the religious school that he is in; which is a school for special needs kids called Gateways. He is 9 and of course, his Bar Mitzvah is around the corner. I am already starting to get ideas. This walk is a great idea.

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6 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 14 May 2013 @ 4:38 pm at 4:38 pm

Thanks!

That trajectory from diagnosis to acceptance is a jagged one. I’m glad that you have found a way to carve out time for your professional calling. For now, writing is providing that for me. Though I do miss the pulpit…

IF you need any ideas, feel free to shoot me an email.

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7 Barry Camson 14 May 2013 @ 9:45 am at 9:45 am

Hi Rebecca,

My colleague Debra Brosan and I would like to interview you as part of research we are doing on an article dealing with the role of the rabbi in a networked congregation. Rebecca Sirbu gave us your name. Is there a direct email by which we can contact you to explain this further?

Regards,

Barry

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8 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 14 May 2013 @ 4:40 pm at 4:40 pm

Absolutely.

frummiehouse (at) gmail (dot) com is the fastest way to reach me.

Best,
Rebecca

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9 Janet Singer 22 September 2015 @ 9:24 am at 9:24 am

Glad I found your blog and am looking forward to reading more!

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10 Joan Charlson 23 December 2015 @ 6:46 pm at 6:46 pm

Are you available to give talks on disabilities at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. If the answer is yes perhaps we could talk. This is all in a very beginning stage so any and all options are possibilities.
Thank you very much.

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11 Rebecca Einstein Schorr 23 December 2015 @ 7:33 pm at 7:33 pm

Hi Joan,

Yes, I would love to talk about the possibility of my coming to your community to speak about disabilities and inclusion in Judaism.

Feel free to email me at frummiehouse (at) gmail (dot) com.

Best,
Rebecca

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12 Elaine Reich 21 October 2017 @ 7:20 pm at 7:20 pm

Dear Rebecca,
I recently listened to your singing of Hashkiveinu + Shelter Us on youtube. Is there a way you could email me the instrumental melody or let me know how I could obtain a simple piano note melody of this? Here is the link to your youtube rendition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINUUz3Hb0U
Thank you for any information you can provide.
Best regards,
Elaine

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13 Miriam Gerber 08 March 2018 @ 11:41 am at 11:41 am

Dear Rabbi Einstein-Schorr,

Bravo to you for distancing yourself from the Women’s March which was organized by 4 individuals who are not supporters of Israel and Judaism. (To say the least.) It has baffled me that any Jewish woman could participate in any event where its leaders were against their religious beliefs and tenets. I resigned from National Council of Jewish Women after being a Life Member for 52 years because of their “enthusiastic support” of the movement. Not one person at Council’s offices – both national and local – gave one whit about why I was leaving. I find that unconscionable. I am very fearful that we have lost our way. Sincerely, Miriam Gerber

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