Seeking God and Community in Synagogue Life
Havdalah Square
A few weekends ago, I brought 20 congregants, mostly of the teenage variety, to New York City for a "Jewish New York" experience.
Cold: Prayer for a Chilly Shabbat
Snow days can be fun; not so this kind of cold. It was colder in Chicago this week than it was in the North Pole.
Shacharit
Morning prayer service. Prayed every day, though the content is different on weekdays, Shabbat, and Festivals. Derived from the Hebrew word for "dawn."
Minchah
Afternoon prayer service. Prayed every day, though the content is different on weekdays, Shabbat, and Festivals.
Maariv / Arvit
Evening prayer service. Prayed every day, though the content is different on weekdays, Shabbat, and Festivals. Derived from the Hebrew word for "evening"
Amidah
Literally, “standing.” A central prayer of the worship service, often recited privately. A chain of blessings in which the first three and final three are always the same, and the intermediate blessings change based on the day (i.e., Shabbat, weekday, holidays).
A Jewish Response to Political Scandal
As we witness public figures dismantled by the revelation of ugly episodes from their pasts, we parents must distill these events and their aftermath for our children.
What Judaism Says About the Golden Rule
For the last few years, I have been a member of a local hospital’s ethics committee. The hospital is part of a university-based system and the committee’s chair is a scholarly pulmonologist with a propensity to pick cases involving life and death choices.
The Challenge of Holding God Close While Keeping Fear at Bay
The poet Yehuda Amichai writes: I don’t want an invisible god... I want a god who is seen... , so I can lead him around and tell him what he doesn’t see… ... In this week’s portion, Ki Tisa, we reconnect with this unfinished storyline at the beginning of Exodus 32. While Moses tarries atop Mount Sinai, the people down below are losing their patience: