Yom Kippur Blessings: For Starting Observance of the Day
On Yom Kippur, we share a holiday meal called seudat mafseket, the concluding meal before the fast begins. We begin the meal with haMotzi, the blessing over the challah
Ugandan Fall Harvest Fruit Salad
This salad uses the three most eaten fruits in Uganda: bananas, mango, and jackfruit.
Moroccan-Inspired Vegetable Couscous
This Moroccan-inspired dish is a perfect way to reap the bounty of wonderful vegetables available during the Sukkot season. It also makes a beautiful, edible centerpiece for your dinner table in the sukkah.
Turkish Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmas)
Stuffed grape leaves and cabbage are ubiquitous - and used with great variety - in the cuisines of the Jews throughout the Diaspora. In this dish, the combination of sweet spices along with pine nuts and raisins demonstrates a strong Arab influence.
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.
Why I Love the “Once-a-Year" Jews
I imagine how Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur services feel to shul regulars: a fashion-show of strangers, preening, talking, walking in and out, coming late, and leaving early.
The High Holidays Tradition I Vowed Not to Repeat
Jewish law says we are to fast on Yom Kippur. This is based on the biblical law that on the Day of Atonement, “You shall afflict yourselves” (Lev.
How Baseball Can Help Us Fulfill the Call of the High Holidays
Two specific events produced more Jewish pride than anything else in the turbulent decade of the 1960s: Sandy Koufax’s refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur in 1965, and not quite two years later, the Six Day War in June
On Yom Kippur: Fast, Pray, Browse
In most ways, my observance of Yom Kippur won’t be much different than thousands of other Jews in pews across North America.
We’ll fast.
We’ll pray.
We’ll browse.