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
22
Sep
Talk of the Table | Fasting for Body and Soul
Eitan Okun only eats between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m., or, on days when he rides his bike, from 6 to 8 p.m.
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.
12
Sep
Why Do We Fall for the High Holiday Season?
Upcoming Jewish landmarks, such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are particularly conducive to this mindset of renewal. As the season approaches and the High Holidays near, we are prompted to consider our actions and outline steps to fix what needs amending.
29
Sep
Ask the Rabbis | What Does Kneeling Mean to Jews?
Jewish discussions over the NFL protests cover some extra ground. What’s the significance of kneeling, anyway?
19
Sep
This Holiday Season, Our ‘Ask the Rabbis’ Editor Looks Back
With the High Holidays on the horizon—and with the current political climate in mind—we asked our “Ask the Rabbis” editor to reflect on some of her favorite pieces of rabbinical wisdom.
18
Sep
This Yom Kippur, an Alphabet of Transgressions
On the High Holy Days, we confess to offenses ranging from A for “arrogance” to Z for “zeal for bad causes.” The message is clear: We make mistakes beginning with every letter of the alphabet.
02
May
A Vietnamese Yom Kippur
by Kelley Kidd
A Yom Kippur spent fasting on the beautiful island paradise of Phu Quoc, in Vietnam, is not my typical Day of Atonement. But somehow that's where I found myself, fasting after a seaside dinner in a bungalow. I stayed up late that night gazing into the sea reflecting, and wondering at its vastness. The next day, an early morning moto ride led us to a waterfall in a secluded jungle, where I splashed in the water and lost a flip flop, but where I also took the time to sit on a tree branch with water rushing across my legs and meditate. I considered my resolutions for the coming year, considered what I had noticed in my life that I wanted to change and to improve, and what to keep. I focused on...
02
Nov
Not So Secular: Jews Occupy Wall Street
by Steven Philp
The Occupy Wall Street movement is populated by the disaffected and anti-religious left--that is, if you ignore the Jews. A recent article by Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times argues that counter to much of American history--where faith communities often stood at the vanguard of progressive causes--this particular movement shows the widening gap “between the religious right and the not-so-religious left.”
Landsberg finds evidence of this in his cursory examination of the Occupy L.A. protest, where the only signs of faith communities are a meditation tent and a sukkah. Yet Landsberg gives those short shrift, pointing instead to the lack of organized Christian involvement. He interviews John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. Green bemoans the dearth of Christian representation. “Where...
18
Oct
Israeli Holidays: Reaching New Highs
by Erica Shaps
While I gaped at my surroundings with shock and wonder, my Yom Kippur hosts smiled at me with amusement and understanding. Since they moved to Israel decades ago, the vacant highways and main roads filled with strolling figures clad in white, children learning to ride shiny new bicycles, and teens racing skateboards up and down Haifa’s steep hills were taken for granted. For me, though, the scene looked like some form of post-apocalyptic utopia. It was a mesmerizing and moving sight, a true embodiment of the “Jewish and democratic” state ideal.
As I reflect on my first Yom Kippur in Israel, I realize that it also serves as an obvious visual representation of the contrast between American and Israeli Judaism. It is not uncommon to hear platitudes about the differences between Israeli and American...