Avinu, Malkeinu, one of the most famous High Holiday prayers, beseeches the Almighty – with whom we refer to in two ways – Father and King – to inscribe us in the Book of Life. Our Father our King inscribe us in the book of good life. Our Father our King inscribe us in the book of […]
If you’ve ever been in love or even excited about a new friendship, you may be able to use that experience to improve your relationship with the Master of the Universe. It’s the month of Elul which means that it’s time to consider our relationship with God. How can thinking about the Creator of the […]
This time of year, we love to talk about hate. We love to quote the Talmudic passage (Yoma 9b) that says the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, usually translated as baseless hatred; we love to talk about increasing ahavat chinam, baseless love, to end the exile that hated began. And we love […]
In an unexpected turn of events, my life has become consumed with helping broken people heal, since the launching of Makom a few years ago. My original passion of making Jewish observance accessible and meaningful to non-Orthodox Jews expanded to a new area when I discovered a population that had been hurt by a skewed version of […]
Dear JITC- Where does the custom of hiding the afikomen (and ransoming it, children from parents or vice versa) come from? Thanks, Lisa Dear Lisa- As you note in your question, there are different customs regarding how to play the afikomen game. In some families, the parents hide it and the children win a prize […]
Would you set out on an important road trip if you only had enough gas for the first 20 miles and no forseeable way of filling your car up for a week? If you were a Maccabee you would. I recently started wondering why the Jews decided to light the menorah with the paltry sum of oil they found. Why bother lighting an eternal light that you […]
