During the High Holidays, my thoughts turn to the special blessings, prayers, and melodies that shape our journey from Selichot to Rosh HaShanah to the final shofar blast on Yom Kippur.
Many of our prayers in the High Holiday liturgy are written in the...
And, we’re off! Many of us have worked over the summer with friends and colleagues to set the calendar for the year ahead, including meetings, events, and other opportunities for gathering.
I was born a Goldman, and always knew I was Jewish on my dad’s side. Although my whole family was spiritual in their own way, the Jewish side of my family didn’t have warm feelings towards religion, and the only thing passed down to me was the Jewish humor
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Recently, I was bicycling with my husband, and we looked up to see a flock of birds sailing across the sky in formation.
This week we encounter the strange tale of Balak (king of Moab,) Balaam (a non-Israelite prophet,) and Balaam’s she-donkey, who, like most of the females in the Torah, has no name. Let’s call her Jennie, which, after all, is the term for a she-donkey.
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Parashat Sh’lach L’cha (“Send for Yourself”), Numbers 13:1–15:41, tells the dramatic story of Israelite scouts going into Canaan to survey and report on the land’s inhabitants and natural resources. The story continues with the community’s reaction to the...
I was eight, sitting in my Hebrew class on a hot Tuesday afternoon after school. Cantor Wagner entered the room, sat down on the teacher’s desk, and took off his watch. He held it up and looked at each of us. The watch looked expensive to me. Holding it up...
