I Want to Observe Shabbat. Where do I Begin?
The best way to begin observing Shabbat is by starting small and adding to your Shabbat observance as you grow more comfortable. If you are interested in ritual, try learning the blessings of the Shabbat table.
Green Eggs and Hamantaschen: Creative Purim Gift Bags Bring a Community Together
Purim at Or Chadash, in Flemington, N.J., includes many of the usual traditions: putting on a Purim spiel (play), using boxes of pasta as gragers, baking hamantaschen with our students, reading the Megillah, and hosting a spectacular carnival that features Esther’s Salon, Mordecai’s March Madness, a photo booth, and plenty of prizes and food.
Four Questions to Ask Ourselves When It Comes to Youth Engagement
Blessings for Festival and Yom Tov Candle Lighting
We Ourselves Went Forth from Egypt
Our encounter with the offerings made in the Tabernacle is interrupted on the Shabbat of April 4th by a description of the Exodus that we celebrate on this day, the first day of Pesach.
Half a Shekel of Guilt Money
My Uncle Max, of blessed memory, used to put a few coins into the pushke of a little yeshivah in Jerusalem every time its representatives would come to America, knocking on doors.
Chazak, Chazak, V'nitchazeik
As we complete each book of the Torah, it is customary to repeat the words "Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazeik." These words, understood as "Congratulations!" actually have a more profound message.
Sharing by Command, Sharing by Choice
Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-7:37) continues the instructions to Aaron and his sons concerning different types of sacrifice. We hear of the olah, burnt offering; the minchah, meal offering; and the chatat, sin offering.
Yehuda: A Poem
"That land there", he points,
"That was Jesse's."
We look and I consider
the bramble imprisoned by razor wire
and the story:
a day of hard words over cotton prices
followed by a night
filled with the sound of slaughtered pigs
and my great grandfather
A "Reform" School for Jewish Boys
Today the Union for Reform Judaism is engaged in a variety of activities that include the Religious Action Center, camping, and