(JTA) — The first time 6-year-old Bibi Shapiro found out just how widely viewed the video of him singing “Avinu Malkeinu” had been, he was sitting on his mother’s lap in Australia being beamed into Yom Kippur services at one of the largest synagogues in the United States. Like so… Read more »
Children will be able to release their sins the really old-fashioned way by sending them away with a goat at Temple Emanu-El’s Yom Kippur morning family service, Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8:30 a.m. During Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, repentance is achieved by prayer, repentance, and fasting, but… Read more »
Editor’s note: The author is an active prosecutor in a major U.S. city. Due to the nature of their work, they must write anonymously. The court officer calls out the calendar number and reads the docket into the record. The defendant, accompanied by his attorney, enters the well. The… Read more »
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 07: Greg Joseph #17 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates defeating the Baltimore Ravens at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 7, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns won 12 to 9. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND (Cleveland Jewish News via JTA) — Browns rookie kicker Greg Joseph said it’s been a “wild ride” for him since being cut at the end of preseason by the Miami Dolphins, signing with Cleveland in Week 3 of the regular season, and just days later, playing an integral role in… Read more »
Rabbi Helen T. Cohn Tucked away in two places in the Book of Proverbs is a brief, cryptic statement: “tzedakah saves from death” (tzedakah tatzel mimavet) (Proverbs 10:2 and 11:4). Surely this can’t mean if we give tzedakah (that is, charitable contributions) we will be immortal! After all, those who give generous amounts… Read more »
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(Rabbis Without Borders via JTA) — The month of Elul is the season of repentance and forgiveness that culminates with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. In the rabbinic imagination, Elul is an acronym for “Ani L’Dodi V’dodi Li” – “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”… Read more »
JTA staff writer Ben Sales and his son relaxing at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in September 2016. (Courtesy of Sales)
CHICAGO (JTA) — Why did my synagogue ban my baby? It had been more than a decade since I attended my hometown synagogue for Yom Kippur, and it was my first time as a father, so I didn’t know what to expect. But I never imagined standing in the lobby,… Read more »
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(JTA) — Building up to Sukkot, with its temporary, shaky sukkah, it’s easy to forget that the holiday comes with something more substantial: its own book, Ecclesiastes — Kohelet in Hebrew — which is read during the festival and gives us a solid sampling of earthly wisdom. “A season… Read more »
Donald Trump addressing the crowd at a campaign rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6, 2016. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Yom Kippur, despite its solemnity and self-abnegation, seems almost anti-climactic if you’ve spent the 10 days since Rosh Hashanah engaging in person-to-person apologies. We would never admit it to non-Jewish friends, who stand in awe of our 25-hour fast, but Yom Kippur is a dodge, an… Read more »
The author as a child with her mother. (Courtesy of Diana Bletter)
(Kveller via JTA) — My mother died on the morning right before Yom Kippur two years ago, and my sister and I were not at all surprised. Irreverent, quirky and eccentric, my mother always kvetched about Yom Kippur and would have done anything to miss it. Dying right… Read more »
Rabbis in swing states say their High Holidays sermons won't address the election head on, but will touch on more general civic themes. (Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah came around last year, Rabbi Aaron Gaber wanted to grapple with an issue roiling the country. So he decided to focus his sermon on racism. But several members of Brothers of Israel, a 120-family Conservative synagogue in suburban Philadelphia, weren’t pleased. “Some of the… Read more »
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(Kveller via JTA) — Two essential parts of preparing for Rosh Hashanah, our clean slate for the year, is asking forgiveness from anyone we wronged and making a list (mental or written) of the ways we fell short since the last time we heard the shofar. Ideally that hard… Read more »
Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli police during clashes in eastern Jerusalem, Sept. 18, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — For Israelis, the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur have turned into days of violence. Unrest has swelled in Jerusalem following an Israeli ban on a protest group at the Temple Mount, the holy site known to Muslims as the Haram… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — These days, more people are wearing white after Labor Day, especially on Yom Kippur. Last year, to keep up with the trend, I looked to buy a white suit to wear during my yearly battle of spirituality vs somnambulism. I had heard that everyone else… Read more »
Congregation Chaverim will partner with the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation and the Union for Reform Judaism to hold a bone marrow registration drive at Yom Kippur services. “This new year, 5775, our congregation will be performing pekuach nefesh, saving a life,” says Rabbi Stephanie Aaron. “With the… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — For years, Rina Deych was treated like she was crazy. Fighting the Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot, she was told things had always been this way and if she kept up the battle, she would only incite anti-Semitism. Year after year, people would kindly suggest… Read more »
On Yom Kippur, when we beat our chests during the confession, maybe we should be knocking instead on our heads. After all, isn’t that where all the trouble starts? On this most physically demanding of Jewish days, Jewish tradition has us beat the heart side of our chests, as… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – We could have been in Tehran. Men in dark suits and earpieces stood outside the doors of the hotel, keeping watch for protesters and anybody else who didn’t belong. Inside, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepared to meet a group of university students. Except this was… Read more »
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 »
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 »
