Vodou Rock and Cherry Manischewitz: Reflections of a Jew Visiting Haiti
At the last count of the World Jewish Congress in 1997, there were 25 Jews living in Haiti. There is no native Jewish population to speak of in what is currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Why ‘Princesses: Long Island’ Doesn’t Work
The debut season of Bravo’s reality show Princesses: Long Island has finally come to a close and I think it’s pretty safe to declare it a disappointment.
"When We Get There": The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
[Editor's Note: Rabbi Jacobs gave the following address on Saturday, August 24, 2013, at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.]
That Special Yearning for Shabbat
You know that feeling you get sometimes when you hear a piece of music and it makes your heart want to leap right out of your chest? Maybe it's because of what the words mean, or because of how the melody lifts you, or because of what the song represents in your memory.
Savoring the Separation of Shabbat
Although we never take off our watches, everyone seems to know that camp time runs at a different pace.
Welcoming Shabbat - A Model for Justice
Four hundred years ago, the mystics of Tzfat began walking out into the fields to greet Shabbat (many of us reenact this by standing for the last verse of L'cha Dodi). Contemporaries scoffed: Shabbat comes to you, wherever you are!
Home is Where the Jewish Community Is
Nothing is more intimidating than leaving your comfort zone, facing a mix of new people, routines, and cultures – especially when you're doing it alone. I’ll never forgot how it felt when I left for college, a New York girl heading to school in the Midwest.
Slaughter Does Not Honor Anyone: Remembering that Fateful Day in Pittsburgh
As I was leading Torah study at our synagogue nearly a year ago, an evil man murdered my friends and co-religionists because to him, Jews are strangers and dangerous.