An aspiring rabbi interprets the Torah on her fingernails
| 2:00 PM Oct 8, 2009
When Yael Buechler was growing up, her Conservative synagogue in Dix Hills, New York celebrated Simchat Torah by taking out a Torah scroll and unfurling it around the entire perimeter of the sanctuary. All the adults—her father was the rabbi—would spread out around the edge of the room, clasping the parchment, while the children ran ...
A Torah portion of omnipotence and violence
| 7:00 AM Jul 10, 2009
It might’ve been my brand new iPhone. It might’ve been the Torah portion. It might’ve been the relentless rain that, at some point, began to seem like a punishment from the heavens. Whatever it was, I recently had the strong urge to play God.
For spiritual guidance, just ask an ass
Numbers 19:1-25:9
| 7:00 AM Jul 3, 2009
Summer is here! How do I know? Because anthropomorphic animals are upon us.
This week, Fox Studios are releasing the third installment in the popular “Ice Age” franchise, this one titled Dawn of the Dinosaurs. So desperate were the besuited dudes at Fox to squeeze a few more sizable piles of cash out of the adventures ...
At the intersection of imprisonment, Internet Week, and Moses
| 7:00 AM Jun 12, 2009
I remember my prom night well: I spent it locked up in the principal’s office. I was placed there after being apprehended while trying to sabotage the school’s public announcement system during the principal’s farewell address. Later, when the principal, a pasty and soft-spoken pedagogue of German extraction, asked why I did it, I unleashed ...
A haftorah of remorse and return
Though only a tiny fraction of what it was in the 18th century, Barbados’s Jewish community—and its 1750 synagogue—still stand proud
In early 20th-century Poland, poet Shmuel Nadler took off his yarmulke and took up with the Communists
After a painstaking survey, Tablet Magazine awards title for nation's tastiest triangular treat
Making Palestinian chicken and Moroccan challah for a Shabbat dinner with Alice Waters
The national infatuation with pork has reached Jewish cuisine, prohibitions notwithstanding
When we were kids, I wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps. Now, as adults, I’m reminded why.
Passover is about freedom, so let’s not encourage our kids to be slaves to their allergies
My children are becoming German citizens, and I’m going nuts
Playing the defiant Vashti in a day school Purim play awakened my inner feminist
On Valentine’s Day, reflecting on the limits and boundlessness of a father’s love
Plus-size retail queen Deb Malkin insists that fashion isn’t only for the skinny
Amid financial shortfalls and a Conservative crisis, the Jewish Theological Seminary will shutter its cantorial school
As Chabad opens preschools across the country, secular parents try to reconcile the movement with the classroom
The recession has hit the rabbinate, too. How are the newly ordained—and laid-off veterans—handling the rabbi glut?
How to reconcile religious prohibitions on autopsies with the need to determine a cause of death
From the archives: The neverending fetishistic fascination with Jews and intelligence
Immunization fears lead to another outbreak among New York’s ultra-Orthodox
For an Orthodox preteen, Tonya Harding was a hero—and a Purim inspiration
A crossword puzzle celebrating Judaism’s denominations
The Coney Island attraction who made wrestling history
