Special Sections

From many walks of life, volunteers lend helping hands

Meryl Press

Volunteers — defined as those “who perform a service willingly and without pay” — are the backbone of many organizations, helping them fulfill and sometimes expand upon their core missions. In this special “Volunteer Salute,” the AJP presents brief snapshots of volunteers from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona… Read more »

Poland’s reviving Jewish communities come (way, way) out

Right to left: Jakob Staszevski, Tyson Herberger and Rebecca Herberger at Kalatowki Lodge in southern Poland, Sept. 6, 2012. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

ZAKOPANE, Poland (JTA) — In southern Polish woods, an unfamiliar blast alarms hikers and wildlife as it pierces the still of a misty morning. It has been a long time since a shofar echoed in these mountains. At the narrow end of the traditional Jewish horn are the puckered… Read more »

SUKKOT FEATURE: Cooling the rhetoric in your sukkah of peace

One way to keep things even and even-tempered in your sukkah this holiday and election season. (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In an election year, a sukkah divided against itself cannot stand. Especially in the swing states, where each party is basically claiming that if the other wins we’ll all be living in sukkahs, political dinner conversation this Sukkot could really topple an already shaky house.… Read more »

Looking back at the highlights of 5772

Gilad Shalit is greeted by cheering crowds as he finally returns to his family home in Mitzpe Hila, Israel after five years in captivity, Oct. 18, 2011. (IDF spokesperson)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — JTA follows and updates some of the stories on which it reported during 5772. * Skeleton competitor Bradley Chalupski followed through on his plans to make aliyah, moving to Israel from Lake Placid, N.Y., where he had spent two years practicing on the bobsled… Read more »

Your guide to a sweeter new year in 5773

CHICAGO (JUF News) — Ready for a clean slate? We Jews are lucky to get a chance to start over every fall as the shofar sounds a wake-up call in each of our lives. With the changing leaves, the crispness in the air and new Justin Bieber Trapper Keepers… Read more »

New Year’s holidays connect us with humanity’s universal touchstones

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

The start of the Jewish New Year, the month of Tishrei, is filled with holy days, among them four foundational celebrations: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah-Shemini Atzeret. They are quite different from one another. Yet we may also think of all four holidays as two pairs… Read more »

Keeping our word, improving the world

NEW YORK (JTA) — Children beginning to acquire language face some amusing obstacles. Confusing basic words is one of them. My son, for example, loved to stretch out his arms and tell me about something that was the biggest or the best “… in the whole wide word.”My heart… Read more »

Putting the high back into the High Holidays

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

BOULDER, Colo. (JTA) — For many of us, let’s face it, the upcoming High Holidays will be anything but a high. Oh, we’ll pack every pew in the synagogues, dressed in our holiday best. We’ll be there for hours, rising when told to, sinking thankfully back into our seats,… Read more »

Jewish Values and Jewish Voting

Every four years, the intersection appears: the Days of Awe cross paths with the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The debate grows more heated.  Talk of policy may dominate the conversation as we dip apples in honey on Rosh Hashanah or as we break the fast on Yom… Read more »

On Yom Kippur, secular Israelis pray with modern songs and bike on open roads

A young woman rides her bicycle by Azrieli Center on the car-free Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — With its lively beaches, all-night clubs and restaurants serving ham and shrimp, Tel Aviv is a city known more for its Speedos than its spirituality. And while the Orthodox may spend Yom Kippur praying in synagogues, secular Jews are more likely to spend the Day… Read more »

You ain’t heard Kol Nidre yet

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — On Kol Nidre, we sing for our lives. At the minyan where I pray, as a lay “shaliach tzibur,” or service leader, I was asked to lead the singing this year, and I was starting to wonder if I was up to it. I wasn’t… Read more »

Confessing our sins on Yom Kippur – and remembering to act nobly

NEW YORK (JTA) — Few prayers are as well known to Jews as Ashamnu (“We have sinned …”) and Al Chet (“For the sin …”), the twin confessions of Yom Kippur. Belief in human sinfulness is more central to Judaism than we think. Sin may not be “original,” as… Read more »

Cheering the tummy after atoning: Breaking the Yom Kippur fast

The Smoked Salmon Omelet is a satisfying way to break the fast. (Ahuva Staum)

(JTA) — Yom Kippur, the most somber day of the Jewish year, is also called the Day of Atonement and reminds us that we are all accountable for our actions. The concept of New Year’s resolutions that mark our secular New Year’s Day comes from the Jewish idea of… Read more »

HIGH HOLIDAYS FEATURE: Casting away your sins at Tashlich — it’s not just fish food

On the first day or Rosh Hashanah, a body of flowing water with fish and sime bread crumbs are all that's needed to begin the transformative process of tashlich. (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Can ridding oneself of a year’s sins really be as simple as tossing a piece of bread into the water? Basically that’s tashlich, or “casting away,” a custom that many Jews practice each year at the seashore, lakeshore, stream or even koi pond. Simply find… Read more »

Op-Ed: For the New Year, renew the commitment to end global hunger

NEW YORK (JTA) — In July I traveled to Ghana with 17 American rabbis. We spent 12 days constructing the walls of a school compound in partnership with a local Ghanian community ravaged by hunger, poverty and labor exploitation. More important than our efforts to mix cement and schlep… Read more »

At the New Year, let’s give animals a new Jewish chance

CHICAGO (Chicago Jewish News) — Shortly after I became a vegan, around 20 years ago, I ordered my first “vegan option” at a Jewish organizational dinner. It arrived: a plateful of raw celery and carrot sticks arranged around a cup of something ranch dressing-ish that probably wasn’t even vegan.… Read more »