Celebrating an Historic Rosh Chodesh with Women of the Wall
I woke up bright and early on Monday morning to head to the Western Wall with my students, participants in the NFTY-EIE study abroad program in Israel. At 7:00 a.m.
An American Teenager Helps Make History at the Western Wall
Rarely does a 16-year-old Jewish girl from suburban Massachusetts get the chance to look back on her day and recognize that she helped make history. She didn’t just talk about it or write about it; she actually experienced it, and all before 9:00 a.m.
Jew Against Jew: A Prayer After Violence at the Kotel
This is a prayer for Jews to love one another.
The Torah That Made History
It finally happened.
After a 26-year struggle, Women of the Wall read from a full size Torah scroll in the women's section of the Kotel.
More Than Words on a Page: Social Justice in our Prayer Books
When I left for college my freshman year, I was nervous about exploring a new Jewish community. However, I immediately felt at home as I walked into my university’s Hillel’s Conservative Friday night services and saw the Siddur Sim Shalom, the prayer book I had grown up with.
Being Together in Community Again: What Every Congregation Needs to Know
Don’t Wait: Life Lessons for the High Holidays from 88-Year-Old Reb Murray
Torah Cantillation for the High Holy Days
There are many elements which make the High Holy Days a unique experience. Often, congregations swell to double or triple their usual size, the musical settings of even common liturgy are different, and some might alter their dress by wearing either traditionally all-white garments or more formal wear than they would sport on Shabbat. Some congregations even have unique garments to dress their Torah scrolls in white.
Why the Hebrew Month of Adar Will Never Be the Same for Me
Despite the imperative to be joyous during the Hebrew month of Adar, I cried recently at the Western Wall during Rosh Chodesh services marking the new month.
Being Holy - and Staying Alive
Acharei Mot, the first of this week's two parashiyot, begins on an unsettling note—a reminder of the death of Aaron's sons and the suggestion that such tragedies might occur again unless the priests take specified steps to prevent them