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Meditation Before Yom Kippur for One Who Cannot Fast

Jewish tradition recognizes that fasting is not a safe practice for all Jews. For this reason, children under the age of 13 and individuals who are pregnant or ill are not required to fast in Yom Kippur. For those who fall into this category, the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services provides a special meditation to recite instead, written by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub.

I am the Walrus

There are 35,000 walruses stranded right now on the beaches of northwest Alaska. Walruses, which rely on sea ice to rest periodically, are having a harder and harder time finding it in the Bering Sea due to ice sheets melting from rising global temperatures. Scientists, including those at the Walrus Research Center in Anchorage Alaska, have serious concerns over whether walruses will be able to adapt to shrinking sea ice levels. They may very well become one of the wide array of species that we can expect to go extinct as climate disruption ravages our planet.

The Music of Avinu Malkeinu

Cantor Hayley Kobilinsky

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.)

Two vintage photographs of the author's family during the Jewish High Holidays

When You Get Stuck in the Fish

Every Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the story of Jonah, perhaps because Jonah is the story of all of us.

Learn about Rosh HaShanah with Grover, Avigail, and the characters of Shalom Sesame

Celebrate Rosh HaShanah with Shalom Sesame: Sounding the Shofar

Watch this Shalom Sesame video with your children and try these fun activities to explore and learn more about the shofar, Rosh HaShanah and the High Holidays!

Learn about Yom Kippur with the characters from Shalom Sesame

Learn About Yom Kippur with Shalom Sesame: Saying Sorry

A new way to explore the meaning of Yom Kippur with your family: watch these Shalom Sesame videos with your children to learn about the concept of saying sorry, and try some of the activities suggested by Reform Jewish educators.

Yom Kippur: History

The History of Yom Kippur, and the origin of Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur Customs and Rituals

Tradition teaches that on Rosh HaShanah the Book of Life is written and on Yom Kippur our decree for New Year is sealed. These are the Yom Kippur customs and Traditions.

A Nice Place to Visit, But…

Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein

There are people with hearts of stone; there are stones with human hearts.

-The Wall, by Yossi Gamzu

Holding My Father's Prayer Book

Guila Franklin Siegel

Guila remembers holding the prayer book for her father, who had cerebral palsy, every Yom Kippur. "What many might imagine to have been a dreary religious obligation was, for me, a highly emotional, touching experience."