In Defense of Having a Religion
The High Holy Day season was not an easy time for my family this year, as my son passed away in January. Rosh HaShanah includes a Torah portion about a father who almost sacrifices his son; I would not have passed Abraham’s test.
Mom's Honey Cake with Apple Confit
Honey cake is traditionally eaten for Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year—the honey’s sweetness symbolizes our wishes for a sweet year. This is my mother's recipe, which she makes in Israel, freezes, and sends to me in the mail.
Galilee Diary: Summertime
Once again this year, on the Saturday night before Yom Kippur, we went off of daylight saving time (referred to here as “summer time”), over a month before the rest of the world.
How Do You Access Your Judaism?
In It to Win It: Similarities Between Elul and the Lottery
Aside from a date, what can these two events possibly have in common? Strange as it may seem, there are a few points of comparison.
Emor for Teens: Shabbat Sha-raps
Putting Elul to Work
Four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, forty years of wandering in the desert: imagine how the legends of the Land of Israel that must have been told.