What Is the Zionist Message in Israel's Spring Holidays?
Thriving Reform Jewish congregations in Israel can help Israelis meet modern life and all its challenges in today's Promised Land.
How to Understand the Timelessness of Jewish Time
Although we may think time moves in a linear fashion, Jewish holidays insert themselves in unexpected moments and places, seemingly out-of-sync with our expectations.
Bearing Witness Today: Delayed Grief and Yom HaZikaron
What God Is and What God Is Not
People often ask me: How could a good God allow the Holocaust to happen? The best answer to this question, I believe, lies in the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
A Blanket, a Letter, a Shoe: Searching for Meaning in Traces of the Holocaust
The artifacts displayed in a major new exhibit, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.,” are what remain, despite the perpetrators’ attempts to conceal their crimes.
3 Questions to Ask on Israel Independence Day
All discourse around Israel can be boiled down to three questions that can help us frame our approach to the country as we celebrate its independence.
Why I'm Wishing My Fellow Jews a "Happy Yom Kippur"
Given that Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, it makes sense that it can, and should, be joyful.
What Do We Really Mean When We Apologize?
Although we learn to say “I’m sorry” as young children, as we age, these words take on more meaning, perhaps reflecting true regret about our behavior or its impact.
How Can We Find Hope and Faith in the Face of Death?
Rabbi Stephen Karol's new book is based on his many years of helping congregants in mourning, which shaped and sharpened his perceptions of death and Jewish mourning tradition.
Kol Nidrei: A Poem
I heard Kol Nidrei on a violin tonight.
They should take all legal documents
and set them to music.
All vows –
This legal document
written in unholy language
a prenuptial agreement
for our inevitable failing.
This relationship with