Jewish Life Around the World

a laptop on a table with apples and honey, kiddish cup, candle sticks and flowers

Keeping Family Close, Regardless of Distance

Rabbi Stacey Blank

September 21, 2022

As I boarded the plane to Israel in the summer of 2002 for my first year of rabbinical school at HUC in Jerusalem, my mother said, "Please, just don't meet an Israeli." As soon as the plane touched down at Ben Gurion airport, I knew that I was home. A few months later, I met that Israeli. From our first conversation, he understood that I was studying to be a rabbi, and I understood that he wanted to live only in Israel.

Passover

Celebrating Mimouna and Creating Traditions with Gal Andres

Ellie Rudee

April 11, 2022

In honor of the upcoming holiday of Mimouna, celebrated by Moroccan Jews at the end of Passover, we sat down with Gal Andres (she/her/hers), 33, who shared her favorite Mimouna celebrations and traditions.

Major Philip Rudin shortly before the United States entered WWII

Jewish Life Around the World

Reflections on the Significance of December 7 on American Jewry

Rabbi A. James Rudin

November 29, 2021

December 7 marks the 80th anniversary of the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu. The attack led to America's formal entry into World War II. What ensued would have a profound impact on Jews everywhere, including the American Jewish community.

Jewish Life Around the World

An Israeli Reform Congregation Joins its Ethiopian Jewish Neighbors in Celebrating the Holiday of Sigd

The Israel Movement for Reform & Progressive Judaism (IMPJ)

November 3, 2021

For many generations, the Beta Israel had longed to reach Jerusalem in a quest to renew their covenant with God and for spiritual redemption. So strong was their desire that they created a holiday as a time to pray for this miracle. They called it Sigd (meaning "worship") and celebrated it on the 50th day after Yom Kippur. This year it is celebrated today, November 4.

Holocaust

A Doorway to Heroism

Rabbi W. Jack Romberg

Imagine a German Jew who was a decorated German soldier in World War I, a resister in Cologne at the start of Hitler’s reign of terror, and a Silver Star decorated U.S. Army soldier. Three heroic actions, at three different times, in three different places. This is the story of Richard Stern, whose photograph of his protest hangs in multiple German museums, showing a rare Jewish protest in Nazi Germany. He was my Great Uncle.