A list of books to augment your time in synagogue (but don’t read them during the rabbi’s sermon, it’s rude)
On Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the 1960s, my parents didn’t belong to a synagogue, but they found an ad hoc congregation in an unlikely place for the High Holidays
Matzo for Rosh Hashanah? Ham for Hanukkah? Challah for Passover?
Bar the unvaccinated from my synagogue? As a rabbi, I have no choice.
Any congregation that takes any measure that bars any Jew from praying in communion on the Days of Awe is divesting itself from the very core of Jewish life
The pandemic forced Reform and Conservative synagogues to shift to livestreaming, but for some Jews, the move proved more of a blessing than a curse
This High Holiday season, remembering how we all got here
How interfaith couples navigate the Jewish holidays
The High Holidays fall in the shadow of the first anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting. Here are four things you can do to make America more just in 5780.
Must we choose between truth and peace or can we have both?
Summer camp, Sarah McLachlan, and the sound of the shofar
Rokhl’s Golden City: The Jazz Singer, and a legendary klezmer drummer bubbe
As the High Holidays kick in, one formerly obese writer reflects on going kosher, long runs, and mastering his sins
To repent, you must first know yourself, which means taking a break from technology’s distractions
Congregation Beth Elohim pointedly welcomed a new generation of ‘ushpizin’
After my best friend died of complications from HIV, I avoided synagogue and found sanctuary in my mother’s house instead. And that’s where I found a space to atone, and a path to move forward.
Elul, the last month of the Hebrew calendar, presents us with the opportunity to reflect and repent before the High Holdays. So why not do this during the entire year?
This year, Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha—a day of fasting and prayer, and a day of feasting and celebration for Muslims, respectively—overlap
