T'shuvah
Vidui
"Confession;" liturgical prayer recited throughout Yom Kippur; confessional said before death.
Yizkor
"Remember;" memorial service held on Yom Kippur and on the last day of Pesach, Shavout, and Sukkot.
Yom Kippur
"Day of Atonement;" holiest day of the Jewish year, which includes a focus on prayer, repentance and fasting.
Yom Tov
"Good Day;" the term, often pronounced as yuntiff (Yiddish) has come to mean "holiday;" "Good Yuntiff" is often used a holiday greeting.
Acharei Mot: Love and Death
The opening line of this portion, "The Eternal One spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the Eternal" (Leviticus 16:1), reminds us that the holy is not only attractive, but also dangerous.
The Power of Tears
Why does the Torah mention the deaths of Nadab and Abihu here in Acharei Mot, when the story of their deaths was told in its entirety in Parashat Sh'mini? What is it that the Torah is trying to teach us through this repetition?
Sometimes We Are Jonah
Every Yom Kippur afternoon, congregations all over the world read the Book of Jonah, as set out for us in the Babylonian Talmud, M'gillah 31a. Most people believe that this haftarah is chosen because it models complete repentance.
Voices of Torah / Yom HaKippurim
Decades ago, Rabbi Jack Reimer explained Yom Kippur for me this way. It's not saying: I'm sorry I was bad and I won't do it again. That's only a Sunday school, superficial expression of something much deeper and spiritually far more important.
What Does It Mean To Be Holy?
In the democratic society of Israel, we with struggle the concept of what it means to be am chofshi b'artzeinu, "a free people in our land." We ask, "What does the responsibility of freedom require from us?" Every year, it seems the answers are less obvious and the search to find them be