It happens that this year the Days of Awe align with Suicide Prevention Week.

Sometimes people think I’m exaggerating when I say that before I learned Hebrew, Yom Kippur could wreck me.

This year, our remembrance of the terrible tragedy of 9/11 falls eerily during the Yamin Noraim, the Days of Awe between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.

Walking the dozen blocks to work through Manhattan, there was an eerie quiet on the street. Even the kids bounding to P.S. 116, the nearby public school, seemed subdued… or maybe it was just in my mind. 

Overnight, an enormous American flag was hung in the

Everyone is a judge. We judge the guilt or innocence of an alleged criminal based upon facts gleaned in the first three seconds of seeing his face on the evening news.

As we turn to thoughts of a new year and a new start, here is a pledge to refrain from texting while driving. Texting while driving is responsible for a quarter of all car accidents today, and is six times more dangerous than drunk driving.

If, as the Talmud tells us, the blasts of the shofar are meant to remind us of crying, (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 33A – specifically of Sisera’s mother – but that is another subject!), then I would offer the following.

There are times when we are like

On Sunday, October 6, 2013, Congregation Rodeph Shalom will partner with the Basser Research Center for BRCA for an educational program about BRCA gene mutations, which are related to breast, ovarian, and other cancers. This post is based on the d’var Torah delivered by Rabbi Jill Maderer on Friday, July 12, 2013.

A piece of my soul died when we decided that my son Ben’s autism would necessitate a reexamination of a conventional bar mitzvah service.

The URJ, as a member of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC), is proud to release Grounded in Faith: Resources on Mental Health and Gun Violence. We hope you will use this resource guide to inform your personal, professional and congregational life.