Jewish Life Around the World

sigd
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)
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.
A Doorway to Heroism
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.
White platter with a stack of matzah and an old Haggadah on top all against a yellow table
Passover

Lessons from the Crusty Page of an Ancient Haggadah

Rabbi Mark Glickman
Sometime during the Middle Ages, a Jew in Cairo acknowledged the fact that joy usually comes with a dose of pain, and pain with joy, so they took a bite of that seder concoction, and left its dribblings for me to see in New York.