This year, I’ve noticed a trend on social media: people mentioning that we shouldn’t have to afflict ourselves this year on Yom Kippur because we’ve been afflicted so much by recent events. According to this thinking, if the point of fasting and abstaining from a variety of physical comforts is to purge our sins, maybe […]

In 2002, when my husband and I were first married, we moved to Israel for a couple years to learn in yeshiva and seminary. I was working in Jewish outreach at the time and some people in Jerusalem had launched a TV station dedicated to Jewish outreach. Since I my childhood dream was to be […]

A number of friends have mentioned that they are dreading Rosh Hashanah. Their general sense of overwhelm has made preparing for the holiday—spiritually or physically—exhausting. Looking back at this past year depresses them. Cynicism leads them to expect 5781 will be worse than 5780. It doesn’t help that due to the novel coronavirus, a lot […]

The Talmud tells us that on Rosh Hashanah, Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were remembered. What exactly were they remembered for? What they all had in common was infertility. And God remembered them and bore them children. While none of these women are part of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy, each is mentioned in the Torah and Haftarah […]

I had a dream last night about Tisha B’Av. As one does. And in it I got into a theological conversation with a less observant friend of mine. Theological conversations are not uncommon in my dreams. Occupational hazard, I suppose. We were sitting on the floor – one of the customary ways that Jews mourn, […]

If you’re like me, the COVID-19 outbreak led to a last-minute scramble for Pesach plans and perhaps an unexpected, but very enjoyable, first seder at home. With the flurry of activity that the initial shutdown brought, many are now beginning to reluctantly settle into a new normal – at least for the forseeable future. With […]