Rosh HaShanah Food
Growing up on Long Island my family belonged to a 350-family congregation. Each year I happily anticipated the High Holiday services and the sense of belonging I felt when I entered the sanctuary.
Yom Kippur and the Gift of Forgiveness
Yom Kippur in Vietnam
Yom Kippur, 1965, I was a Navy medical officer stationed aboard a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam.
Rosh HaShanah: The New Year of Social Justice
Rosh HaShanah is the holiday of beginning, of potential, of optimism, of hope.
Rosh Hashanah – A Personal Reflection
My earliest memories of the High Holy Day season, in particular Rosh HaShanah, involve me as a child sneaking out of services to use the restroom, only to find myself spending the remainder of the service with my brother in the child care room. During the short time I would stay in services,
Rosh HaShanah Teaches Us About Making Every Moment Count!
The month preceding the High Holy Days is called Elul. It is a time of reflection before we “officially” begin the important process of teshuvah.
We Get to Be Jewish
Growing up the child of a Jew-by-choice, everything about Judaism was a choice for us. For my mother, Judaism was a gift. She felt very proud to count herself among the Jewish people. She felt blessed to have the opportunity to do Jewish things.
Why Avinu Malkeinu is So Important After the Year We've Had
Every summer, I go through the same routine.
A Blessing for the New Year
There are pages
even in my new machzor
that I imagine stuck together,
remnants of honey from my daughter’s sticky fingers,
sacred fragments
of words and stories
memories
and possibilities
smudged
one atop the other
like sandcastles on a beach