Every year on Yom Kippur, Jews in synagogues all over the world engage in a communal chest-beating during the Vidui, to repent, symbolically, for our collective sins. But what about the sin of being too hard on ourselves? As the High Holy Days approach once again, it seems logical to wonder why it is always so much easier to forgive others than ourselves.
Ten thoughts on the current crisis: 1. American red lines cannot be crossed. President Barack Obama has said that “Assad must go” and that the use of chemical weapons would constitute, in America’s eyes, a “red line.”
For many of us, the month of Elul and the High Holy Days are our personal and communal time for introspection. The work we do for ourselves as Jews is significant as we take the opportunity to make teshuvah (forgiveness) to others and to God and to improve our lives.
In a time when fasting can be a political statement or a fitness trend, you might wonder about its enduring value as a spiritual ritual. To learn more, we asked people who fast on Yom Kippur what they get out of it. Our modest sample yielded folks who are interested only in a meaningful personal experience, unrelated to why anybody else fasts. For these people, the act of fasting on Yom Kippur is a choice that has nothing to do with contemporary exigencies.
Rabbi Shmuel Miller, founder of Midrasho Shel Shem and a sofer (Torah scribe), died over the Rosh Hashanah holiday on Sept. 5. Los Angeles’ Sephardic community has lost one of its most beloved figures.
Alex Friedman, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to America after the 1956 Hungarian uprising, died Aug. 18. He was 93.
It’s time to talk about grief\nas if the mere mention could\ncrack the sky leaving the stars\nto break through shattering\nafternoon’s complacency.
Rob Eshman brings us the chilling fact that most Pakistanis believe Israel and the United States are behind the 9/11 attacks and the cause for the chaos in Egypt (“Reshaping Hate,” Aug. 30). Once again, this raises the question: “Why do they hate us?” The answers suggested by the Muslim journalists show that after all these years, we’re still guessing.
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