Holidays

The tradition of staying up all night on Shavuot to study Torah (Tikkun leil Shavuot) is getting a multi-track makeover this year with the...

One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on...

When 7-year-old Jenna Bishop asked her mother, “Please tell me about God and heaven and what it all means,” the reply was swift. “You...

Although the 2020 March of the Living will not take place on Holocaust Memorial Day due to the coronavirus pandemic, an estimated 10,000 people...

As the Jewish world continues to confront growing ethical, practical and moral questions surrounding the coronavirus, the Tzohar rabbinical organization is calling on people all over...

What's darker than not being able to see the people you love?

This year, Passover seems unreal. Instead of a gathering of friends and family (including the kvetchy relative that we all dread) it’s just going...

Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not. This is the first installation of...

On the first night of Nissan, we start counting until the moon is full on the 15th of the month. This is seder night,...

The greatest gathering of the Jewish year is nearly upon us and this year, the Passover seder will be celebrated like no other. Mah nishtanah...

This year for Passover, I’m thrilled to share some traditional recipes from an Israeli friend, Hedva Amrani, which we’ll include at our seder. Amrani is...

Sorry, Rabbis of the Talmud, I didn’t dress up in a costume Like I was supposed to, Didn’t get so drunk I couldn’t differentiate bless and curse Like you said we should, Didn’t...

It would make sense to start the Jewish year on Rosh Hashanah, literally the “head of the year,” but that’s not how it goes...

My grandson asked why we make such a big fuss about Chanukah. By the tone of his voice, I could tell that a juicy...

Of all the sublime indications that “the Bible is literature, not journalism” the subtle threads exuding from this week’s Torah portion stand out.  ...

From Darkness to Wisdom 2019: Thoughts on Torah Portion Vayeitzei  (adapted from 2018) I can imagine Jacob bemoaning his fate, justifiably. Jacob was the one,...

Life Torn and Sewn Together 2019 (adapted from 2018) Comments on Torah portion Chayyei Sarah Human pain is the backdrop of the book of Genesis, pain...

If anything, Abraham seems to have been a compulsive figure. Suddenly picking up and leaving everything like that. Let’s compare what Freud and Jung...

The shadow haunts us – this is an inexorable truth we learn throughout the Days of Awe. In the first act of the Days...

Thoughts on the Days of Awe Live the Light, and Be Strong Nixon was a Capricorn. And so was Jesus. I vaguely remember the day, I must...

Literalists Don’t Go to Heaven Shabbat Bamidbar - Thoughts on Shavu’ot Our practice of Judaism is not derived from biblical religion. All Judaism today is founded...

After the Death   Our Torah portion this week, Acharei Mot (After the Death), contains a ritual that bespeaks an ancient stratum of religion, and...

A study appeared in PLoS ONE, the peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science, that drew attention in Israel but made barely a...

The survivors were our neighbors. They were ancient and wrinkled and they spoke Yiddish and had numbers on their forearms and were all women. I never...

Erika Jacoby met Ursula Martens in 2017 at Jacoby’s Valley Village home for a dialogue sponsored by the Journal. Martens, a childhood member of...

Sometimes when people find out that I am a rabbi, they ask me whether I actually believe in the Bible, for instance the parting...

I know a Hebrew School student is on the way to their Bar or Bat Mitzvah in a few years when they confidentially tell...

Trying to Be Free Thoughts on the Shabbat of Passover, 2019 (adapted from 2018) “Free from what?” I ask myself, in my yearly meditation on freedom. Like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jrQvM8w1BI&feature=youtu.be The Passover Haggadah speaks of the Four Children, symbols of the diverse ways in which different people can access and interpret the story of...

The Passover seder is the most celebrated Jewish ritual in the world for the same reason “Avengers: Endgame” sold a record number of pre-sale...