Yamim Noraim: What Are the Awesome Aspects of the "Days of Awe"?
As Jews, we approach every autumn with the understanding that a new year is starting and that the High Holy Days are up and coming. In between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, we observe the Days of Awe, or the Yamim Noraim.
Turn: A Poem for the High Holy Days
Turn the Torah scroll.
Turn back to Genesis
for the Rosh Hashana reading.
As the Torah scroll is rolled,
one person is on one side
pulling forward -
back to the beginning.
One person is on the other side
releasing the past.
A Student's D'var Torah for Rosh Hashanah
Every morning I wake up at 5:30. Rolling over, I grab my computer and check Twitter, Tumblr, my blog, and make sure I remembered to do all my homework.
Listen: The Power of Tekiah Gedolah
“Wake up, wake up, you sleepers from your sleep, and awake you slumberers from your slumber.” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 3:4)
Racial Justice Resources for the High Holidays
When Winter Storm Jonas hit D.C. in January, we were eagerly looking forward to the balmy, humid temperatures of the D.C. summer. Now, with August already upon us, the summer will sadly be over soon.
How to Focus on Racial Justice During the High Holidays
This High Holidays season, as we think about racial justice and voting rights this late summer and fall, we’re also thinking about other key issues that are important to repairing our broken world and combating racial injustice.
Resource Roundup: Everything You Need for the High Holidays
If you’re looking for a particular resource you don’t see listed here, let us know so we can help you find it – and you can always post in The Tent to chat with other congregational leaders and URJ staff. L’shanah tovah!
Being Jewish in Indonesia
The way that Reform Judaism has taken the texts of our tradition, with the traumas of our past, to create a transformative responsibility to pursue social justice is a point of pride for me in my Jewish identity. So, when I was asked not to mention that I a
Remembering Holocaust Victims and Heroes with Music
In North America, Holocaust remembrance services and programs often include special musical selections in memory of people lost during the war and in honor of those who fought against the Nazis. Such music is profound and varied, and often was used as a vehicle of resistance. For example, “Zogt Nit Keynmol” (“Never Say That You Have Reached the Final Road”) was written in April 1943 in reaction to news of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Composed in Vilna by underground fighter Hirsh Glick and set to a Soviet cinema tune by Dmitri and Daniel Pokrass, the song spread like wildfire throughout Eastern Europe, becoming the official hymn of the partisan brigades.