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GOTV: What Would Susan Do?

On November 5, a middle-aged woman walked up to her polling place in Rochester, New York. She entered the voting booth, and filled out her ballot indicating her preferred candidate. She dropped her completed ballot into the ballot box and went home.

Shabbat service in a synagogue sanctuary

Going to Temple? Bring a Friend!

Alan Zeichick

When we love something, we want to share it – so why not be inspired to bring our Jewish friends into the kehilla kedosha (holy community), embracing them within a wonderful, sacred congregation?

Every Day is Labor Day

Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz

Every day is Labor Day. Jewish tradition expounds the importance of work and those who do it. Even God worked for six days and then rested on Shabbat. The Jewish vision of the messianic era is not an age of idleness, but rather one in which swords become plowshares.

A womans white hand and a mans black hand hold a Hanukkah candle together as they light a Hanukkah menorah

Habari Gani? How My Family is Melding Kwanzaa and Hanukkah Customs

As we each shared some favorite holiday memories, my partner asked, “So what does each candle of Hanukkah symbolize?” Puzzled, I asked him to explain what he meant. “You know, like for Kwanzaa.”

Musical Settings: Adon Olam

When I was a student at the Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago, Illinois, I had a Hebrew teacher who suggested that every night before we went to sleep, it would be meaningful to recite the last verse of Adon Olam. As an impressionable and obedient fourth grader, I took to heart her suggestion and incorporated what became a comforting and soothing personal prayer with my nightly recitation of the Sh’ma:

In Toledo, Asleep in the Room of the Moneylenders

Ilana DeBare

We took advantage of our empty nest status to take a week-long trip to Spain this month, the first time in almost 20 years that we could travel at a time when schools weren’t on vacation.

My Secret Siblings

Childhood memories are vague at the best of times. Our remembrances tend to be pictures shown and stories told to us by others. But what happens when a family chooses not to remember because the memories are too painful or too shameful?

Debbie Friedman: Singing Unto God

Hank Bordowitz

Debbie Friedman's user-friendly liturgical compositions are sung in Reform congregations across North America, and her Mi Sheberach has helped countless individuals derive strength from singing in solidarity. What are the sources of her inspiration?

From Blasphemy to Blasphemous: An Instructive Transition

May 13, 2017

In Parashat Emor, the Torah reports that a man born of mixed Israelite-Egyptian descent “blasphemed the Name [of God],” was placed on trial, and was stoned to death. A law was then enacted that anyone, Jewish or gentile, who blasphemes the name of God shall be put to death. Over time, in communities throughout the world, laws against blasphemy were put in place to address curses leveled at God as well as perceived slights against some religions.

Remember the Days of Old

September 23, 2017

In Haazinu, Moses recites a poem telling the people of Israel that they must give glory to God and be true to God whose ways are just. He instructs them to consult their elders and “remember the days of old.”