Virtual Book Talk—"Watch How You Go: Jewish Wisdom for Your Journey Ahead"

Join the Museum at Eldridge Street for a discussion of Rabbi Rachel Ain’s new book, Watch How You Go: Jewish Wisdom for Your Journey Ahead, featuring Rabbi Ain in conversation with Rabbi Raymond Jasen.

In Watch How You Go: Jewish Wisdom for Your Journey Ahead, Rabbi Rachel Ain draws on Jewish tradition, more than two decades in the rabbinate, and her experiences as a mother, wife, daughter, and communal leader to explore what it means to live a meaningful Jewish life today.

Written first as a message to her sons as they begin making their own way in the world, the book opens into a wider conversation about the questions that shape all of our lives: How do we balance family, work, faith, and responsibility? How do we hold on to belief when life is difficult? What does it mean to belong to the Jewish people? How can tradition help us respond to uncertainty, disagreement, antisemitism, and a changing world?

Through personal stories, Jewish texts, and reflections on contemporary life, Rabbi Ain explores family, prayer, Shabbat and Jewish time, God and doubt, Israel and Jewish peoplehood, compassion, community, leadership, and the responsibility to make a difference. Her approach is rooted in tradition while remaining open to questioning, growth, and the realities of modern life.

Warm, thoughtful, and deeply personal, Watch How You Go shows how Jewish wisdom can become a practical guide for everyday living. It is a book about knowing where you come from, understanding what matters, and moving forward with intention while carrying faith, family, identity, and values with you.

For readers seeking Jewish inspiration, spiritual growth, stronger connection to tradition, or simply a more meaningful way to approach the journey ahead.

Please see the Zoom link in your order confirmation email. This program is entirely virtual.

Registration for this Zoom program is pay-what-you-wish. The following are suggested amounts for each ticket type:

Adults $12
Seniors $10
Students $8

REGISTER HERE

CLICK HERE to purchase Watch How You Go.

Rabbi Rachel Ain has been the Rabbi of Sutton Place Synagogue in Manhattan since 2012. Before joining Sutton Place, Rabbi Ain was the Senior Director for National Young Leadership at the Jewish Federations of North America, where she worked to engage the next generation of leaders. Prior to that, she was the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas, in Syracuse, NY, from 2004-2011.

During rabbinical school she trained as a chaplain in the US Navy and now Rachel sits on the Chancellor’s Rabbinic Cabinet of JTS and is on the Executive Board of the NY Board of Rabbis.

Rachel’s writings and essays have been featured in The New York Jewish Week, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), The Jerusalem Post, My Jewish Learning and several others. Her first book Watch How You Go: Jewish Wisdom for Your Journey Ahead was published by Gefen Publishing House.

Rabbi Raymond Jasen was born in Manhattan and raised in Flushing, Queens. He graduated from Long Island University with a B.A. in Political Science in 1988 and then attended Harvard Law School, where he received his J.D. in 1991. Raymond has been an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, a Managing Director at Citigroup, a Senior Managing Director at AIG, and was most recently the partner-in-charge of KPMG’s financial services tax practice in New York. Raymond received his Semicha (Rabbinical Ordination) from a number of prominent Rabbis including Rabbi Yochanan Gurary, Chief Rabbi of Holon, Israel and Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun, Mara De’asra (Chief Rabbi) and member of the Crown Heights Beis Din. He is a member of the Rabbinical Alliance of America (RAA/Igud HaRabbonim) and the New York Board of Rabbis. In addition to his academic and professional pursuits, Raymond is the board chair of the Queens Botanical Garden, and sits on the board of the Museum at Eldridge Street.

About the Museum at Eldridge Street:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is housed in the Eldridge Street Synagogue, a magnificent National Historic Landmark that has been meticulously restored. Opened in 1887, the synagogue is the first great house of worship built in America by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Today, it is the only remaining marker of the great wave of Jewish migration to the Lower East Side that is open to a broad public who wishes to visit Jewish New York. Exhibits, tours, public programs, and education initiatives tell the story of Jewish immigrant life, explore architecture and historic preservation, inspire reflection on cultural continuity, and foster collaboration and exchange between people of all faiths, heritages, and interests.