When do you light yizkor (memorial) candles on Yom Kippur? Do you light candles only for immediate family members?
Rabbi Julie Zupan answers - When do you light yizkor (memorial) candles on Yom Kippur? Do you light candles only for immediate family members?
What Are Yom Kippur Yizkor Prayers?
Rabbi Dr. Richard Sarason answers, What Are Yom Kippur Yizkor Prayers?
Revisiting and Rededicating
Every May, Jewish American Heritage Month offers all of us the opportunity to more deeply engage with the three and a half centuries of Jewish life in the United States.
How We Can Embrace Those Struggling with Severe Depression
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to consider how we can help prevent and treat mental illness – including the agonizing scourge of clinical depression. It’s also the month leading up to Shavuot, when we read the Book of Ruth. The story of Ruth and Naomi includes powerful lessons about how relationships and community can restore and sustain those facing difficult times.
The Music of Avinu Malkeinu
In the game “Truth-or-Dare,” I choose “truth” nearly every time. I’m not much of a dare-taker. Thus, if you and I were playing “Special Edition Truth-or-Dare: High Holy Days,” I would confess that the prayer Avinu Malkeinu provides me with both my second-favorite liturgical moment and my second-greatest pet peeve of the year’s liturgy. (Note: Even though I may have to repent for it, I will leave you in suspense about my favorite liturgical moment and my greatest liturgical pet peeve. Also, “Special Edition Truth-or-Dare: High Holy Days” is fictional, although I hereby declare copyright in the event Mattel or Hasbro comes knocking at my door.)
Is Time Ours or Is It God's?
In Parashat Emor, the verses in Leviticus 23:1-44 name and describe the sacred times of the Jewish calendar: Shabbat, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and the Pilgrimage Festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Time becomes a holy thing, and the "normalcy" of time — of one day being no different than any other — is forever differentiated by the weekly Sabbath and by these special festive days.
Stretching to Make Sense (And Not Fully Succeeding)
This week's Torah portion, Acharei Mot, "After the death" [of two of Aaron's sons], continues the focus on ritual purity that began earlier in Leviticus, and begins the section of the book known as the Holiness Code.