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Rethinking the Holy Days

Rabbi Donald Kunstadt

I’ve come to the conclusion we need to change the date of Simchat Torah. Our Jewish festivals must be re-envisioned as inspirational community gatherings of joyful spiritual Jewish celebration. Every single festival needs to be a time of great community involvement and meaning.

Celebrate Torah

Rabbi P.J. Schwartz

Every year, the season of reflection and renewal is culminated by the celebration of Simchat Torah (literally “the rejoicing of the Torah”).

Drawing Near to Torah

Debbie Niederman

I did not have a typical Reform Movement upbringing, and would say that the three years I lived on an island in Alaska are probably most emblematic of that.

It’s Hard to be a Jew at Christmas, But Even Harder on Tu BiSh’vat

Kelly Hershberg

It is a truth universally acknowledged that it can be difficult to be Jewish at Christmas time. It has seeped into North American cultural consciousness so thoroughly that South Park even wrote a song about it, complete with trademark expletives.

Blessings for Festival and Yom Tov Candle Lighting

These blessings are recited for candle lighting on Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.

A mans hands dropping a ballot into a ballot box with a Canadian flag in front

The Torah of Voting - Even When Election Day Falls on a Jewish Holiday

Rabbi Dara Lithwick

This year, Canada’s federal election will take place on October 21, at the same time as the holidays of Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Cluster of balloons with frowning faces and one with a smiley face

When You Just Don’t Feel Joyful on Simchat Torah, Remember...

C.E. Harrison

With every seemingly worse piece of bad news littering our social media feeds and our news cycles and in the streets right before our very eyes, it’s fair to wonder: What if we simply can’t be happy, even when we’re commanded to? What if you just don’t feel like dancing?

Tu BiShvat: Customs and Rituals

The Jewish mystics of the 17th century, the Kabbalists, created a special ritual—modeled after the Passover seder—to celebrate God's presence in nature. Today in modern Israel, Tu BiShvat has become a national holiday, a tree planting festivaTu BiShvat is not mentioned in the Torah. Scholars believe the holiday was originally an agricultural festival, corresponding to the beginning of spring in Israel. But a critical historical event helped Tu BiShvat evolve from a simple celebration of spring to a commemoration of our connection to the land of Israel. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the exile that followed, many of the exiled Jews felt a need to bind themselves symbolically to their former homeland. Tu BiShvat served in part to fill that spiritual need. Jews used this time each year to eat a variety of fruits and nuts that could be obtained from Israel. The practice, a sort of physical association with the land, continued for many centuries.l for both Israelis and Jews throughout the world

Tu BiShvat: History

Although the celebration of Tu BiShvat has a long and varied history, the theme most commonly ascribed to the holiday today is the environment.

Congregation Children of Israel March with Torah Scrolls on Simchat Torah

Sh'mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah: History

As Sukkot comes to an end, we encounter additional special days in the Jewish calendar: Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah