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How to Use the URJ Reflection Tool
We recently introduced the URJ Reflection Project, a tool for the High Holidays that can be found at reflect.reformjudaism.org. Here, we share suggestions of how to use its many ideas with your congregation.
How to Get into the High Holidays State of Mind
It's a challenge and necessity, especially during this pandemic, to set boundaries between work time and family or personal time, between home office and home. How do we do that, emotionally?
How to Turn Your Home into a Sanctuary for the High Holidays
Like our ancestors before us, we must again bring worship “inside” and create a sacred space at home while we are in front of our computers.
A Reform Jew-by-Choice Begins His Journey to the Rabbinate
I began my journey to Judaism nervously. Unlike the Charedim (ultra-Orthodox) who are anxious before the word of God, I was anxious in the uncertainty of the future.
Shabbat and the Law of Unintended Consequences
Arguably, the most important step the Reformers took in bringing Judaism into modernity was the institution of egalitarianism, never reckoning with the grave damage they were inflicting on our greatest treasure, the Shabbat. By creating the expectation that women would join their husbands at Shabbat services, the focus of celebrating Shabbat moved from the home into the synagogue, including even the lighting of candles.
Seeing Through the Darkness: Inside Charlottesville’s Synagogue One Week Later
May we continue to be inspired by Congregation Beth Israel to turn darkness into light, to turn fear into resolve, to turn xenophobia into acceptance, and to turn hatred into hope.
How a Day of Rest Can Save Your Life
Not in her wildest dreams, could Marilyn Paul have imagined that she would ever take a day off every week to calm her soul, and write a book about it. Learn her story.
Finance Free Friday Nights: How Shabbat Can Help Ease Weekday Anxiety
A checkbook and a papier-maché cup are central to our family’s Shabbat. These ritual items – as important to us as candles or kiddush cup – play an essential role in the “shutting off” that welcomes the sabbath to our house.
Our Plugged-In Shabbat
As in many families, we found that the grip of electronics in the lives of our children was becoming tighter. This was not a good thing. In the mornings, our children would claim that they were not hungry for breakfast so they could watch TV.
Roast Chicken, South African-Style
This adaptation of Katie Osrin’s roast chicken - a family favorite - includes potatoes, apples, and ginger.