The Relationship Between Prayer and Your Imagination
When the words of liturgy are taken too literally, the sacred power of prayer is often lost. In his latest book, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman offers a way worshipers can transcend the limitations imposed by language.
What Does Eliijah Have to Do with Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur?
It is for good reason that Jews close Yom Kippur — just before the blowing of the shofar — with the triumphant cry from the wonderful passage (First Kings, Chapter 19) in which Elijah vanquishes the prophets
The Undesired Fast
For many Jews, the Yom Kippur fast is one of the hardest and most meaningful Jewish acts they will perform during the year.
Kvetch or Kvell? The Post Yom Kippur Conundrum
Yom Kippur has concluded. The break-the-fast has been consumed, and the prayers about becoming the person we could be are now a memory.
What Happens After the High Holidays?
The hard work is behind us.
We prayed, chanted, cried, healed, remembered, re-aimed our arrows of good intentions toward the target of new priorities, and reflected on trying not to deflect.
We focused.
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!
Why The Man Who Coined the Term “Genocide” Is Turning in His Grave
Genocide has been in the news lately. On March 17th, Secretary of State John Kerry declared, “In my judgment, Daesh (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.” But unless the world’s most powerful nation fulfills its legal and moral obligation under the Genocide Convention, thousands more men, women, and children will fall victim to the crime that once had no name.
Lessons of Nuremberg: Stand Up to Hate and Remember Its Victims
Yom Hashoah arrives this year on the eve of two historic anniversaries: the 80th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Nuremberg Race Laws, which served as prologue and precursor to the Holocaust, and the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, which served as the foundation for the development of contemporary international human rights and humanitarian law. We must ask ourselves two questions: What have we learned? What must we do?