Discovering Israel Beyond Its Borders
Growing up in rural Massachusetts, Judaism held a much different context in my life than it does now. Until college, I did Judaism, mimicking the motions of being a "good Jew." I didn't combine milk and meat in my house because my father told me not to.
More Than Words on a Page: Social Justice in our Prayer Books
Shoah Memorial Prayer
This memorial prayer for those who perished in the Holocaust is the centerpiece of a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy. It also appears in liturgist Alden Solovy’s book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.
Preserving the Truth About World War II Vilna
“NOVA”’s new one-hour film, “Holocaust Escape Tunnel,” reminds us that in an era of alternative facts, science and history still can separate fact from fiction.
Honoring Jewish Rescuers this Holocaust Remembrance Day
More than a half century after the Holocaust, it is surely time that we acknowledge that saving one’s own is worthy of recognition and praise. Jews everywhere ought to take pride in these heroes of their own people.
This Synagogue Embraced a New Narrative for Teaching the Holocaust
Have you ever noticed that when we teach the Holocaust, we let the perpetrators dictate the story for us? We use their pictures and their propaganda to tell our story, forgetting that their agenda was to dehumanize the Jews.
How Technology Can Help Us Carry on Jewish Traditions
A high school student explains what he learned about Jewish tradition from his experience developing a smartphone app for a virtual Yom HaShoah candle.
Why I Believe in Ghosts
Read about one man’s conviction that he was summoned to Poland by his ancestral spirits to receive their desperate plea: Do not forget us!
Baal t’kiah
Literally, “master of t’kiah,” meaning “one who sounds the shofar.”
Bein adam laMakom
Literally, “between a person and God.” Refers to the religious or ritual mitzvot, or sacred obligations. The Mishnah teaches that the day of Yom Kippur atones for sins between a person and God.