Synagogues adjust High Holidays Plans as Delta Variant Spreads
Synagogues across the country are re-evaluating their plans for in-person High Holiday services as the Delta variant spreads.
27
Aug
21
Sep
Etgar Keret: Outside the Israeli Bubble
A woman sprawls face-down on a table, her face in a breakfast dish and a banana peel near her knee. Soon she wakes and arises with jerky but highly choreographed movements coordinated with a whimsical soundtrack. She turns on the television, a Japanese announcer appears, shuffling papers, and she quickly shuts it off. As she turns away, the television flicks back on of its own accord, and we’ve entered the slightly magical but recognizable world of an Etgar Keret story, recently made into a short film.
31
Aug
As COVID Drags On, Rabbis Work to Adapt High Holiday Services
For the past six weeks, members of Beth Sholom Congregation & Talmud Torah in Potomac, Maryland, have attended services in the parking lot.
13
Aug
Beshert | Was My Depression Meant To Be?
If you ask my therapist, she’ll say I’ve been struggling with hypomanic depression since my freshman year of college. But if you ask me, I think I’ve struggled with some form of mental illness since at least seventh grade. That’s when my bouts of melancholy, followed by periods of merriment began.
Until college, the emotions were manageable, not raising alarms as anything more than typical teenage mood swings. But by the middle of my freshman year, the fluctuations were more palpable. During the days of depression, I’d skip class, watching endless hours of TV and eating whatever takeout was easiest to get my hands on. Happiness eluded me, seemingly unattainable. Coming out of those moods felt better, but was by no means healthy. I’d feel frenzied, talkative and overexcited. I would stay up till three and...
28
Jul
What’s in a Date? On the Meaning of Tisha B’Av
This year some Jews will use Tisha B’Av as a day to reflect upon the trauma of the ongoing pandemic. When cities across the world shut down this spring, the reality of social distancing and quarantine, accompanied by images of abandoned roads, empty subways and desolate public spaces, evoked the opening lines of the book of Lamentations, traditionally chanted on Tisha B’Av in many communities.
23
Jul
Palm Springs: Build Your Own Palace in Time
Repetition mixed with monotony is not usually high up on Hollywood’s list of project themes, which is why Hulu’s Palm Springs was such a delightful surprise. The film stars Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother) as two apathetic California wedding guests who get stuck in a Groundhog Day-like time loop, forcing them to relive the couple’s special day over and over again. For a film that was shot in pre-coronavirus times, Palm Springs is surprisingly relevant.
14
May
Will the Pandemic Change Where We Choose to Live?
If you’re dreaming about a little house in the woods right now, you’re not crazy. You’re practical.
08
May
Share Your Homemade Challah with Moment!
Do you have your own favorite challah recipe? How about some baking tips and tricks you *swear* guarantee perfect loaves every time? Share them in the comments and spread your wisdom to the rest of us challah-lovers.
30
Mar
It Takes a Pandemic to Elect a Prime Minister
How did a politician facing trial on two corruption cases, who came out second in the latest elections and who failed to receive the mandate to form the next government manage to end up keeping his post as prime minister?
20
Mar
Voters Disagree on Administration’s Response to Coronavirus, but Agree on Seriousness of the Crisis
With the nationwide near-total shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic, we asked participants in the Jewish Political Voices Project (JPVP) what they thought about the response from political leaders. We also wanted to know how their lives have changed as “social distancing” becomes the new normal.
The crisis so far shows few signs of bridging the political divide between Republican and Democratic JPVP participants. The Democrats are nearly uniform in their condemnation of the federal response to the pandemic, while several Republicans praise the Trump administration’s actions and say their support for the president has grown. Iowa Republican Bud Hockenberg, 92, calls the federal response “perfect” and says it has “increased my support” for Trump. North Carolina Republican Mark Goldhaber, 67, characterizes the federal response as “reasonably strong,” even though it was “slow off the...