"Life Is in the Transitions": Wisdom from a Bestselling Author
"If I were to sum up what I learned after five years of working on this book, it is this: Transitions work. When life gets us stuck, a life transition is the means of getting unstuck."
Related Blog Posts on Holocaust, Jewish History, and Jewish Values
Who Cares About Israeli Democracy?
I agreed with my friend that democracy isn’t perfect. And I agreed that we must do everything to protect Israel as a majority Jewish State. I pushed back, though.
The Mom of a Trans Child Wrote a Beautiful New Rosh HaShanah Book
As the mother of a transgender child, Rabbi Ari Moffic knows that personal transformation is a key and beautiful part of who each of us is.
22,202 CE: A Year With No Rosh HaShanah
Soon, Jews around the world will celebrate the beginning of the Jewish new year, 5781, and many of us will do so not from our synagogues as usual, but rather from our homes, looking into our computer screens courtesy of Zoom or some other streaming technology.
Two New Films, "An American Pickle" and "Palm Springs," Reflect High Holiday Themes
Both films show us ways to examine our flaws and make amends, either with the people we’ve wronged or for the ways we’ve scorned the sacrifices of those who came before us.
Inspired 5781: More Art, More Awe
I grew up going to services. A lot of services. I was adept at counting the ceiling tiles, reaching into the thousands as my grasp of numbers grew more sophisticated.
RAP-ENTANCE: A Soul-Opening Experience for the High Holidays
Long before I became a rabbi, I was a DJ and a hip-hop-head. Music always scored my life, and for years I've wondered, "How can that music be harnessed for religious practice?"
Navigating COVID: Our Ancestors Pointed the Way
Rabbi Max Chaiken, our Ten Minutes of Torah commentator for the Book of Deuteronomy, is the associate rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Los Angeles, CA. We talk to him about his Jewish journey and the ideas behind his commentaries.
What Does it Mean to Make Successful T’shuvah?
For the first time this year, High Holidays will be conducted remotely for our community – but it will show us that we can, as Rabbi John Rosove taught, truly “overcome the past for the sake of a better future.”
Introducing a Meaningful New Way to Reflect This High Holiday Season
If the High Holidays were to be pared down to their very essence, what are some words and phrases that might come to mind?
Belonging. Connection. Memory. An accounting of the soul.
These are just some of the words that drove the creation of the URJ