Articles
A Conversation with Anita Diamant
What converts bring to Judaism, what Jews should stop doing toward converts, why you might want to go to the new Boston mikveh and never get wet, and lots more … from the acclaimed author of The Red Tent, in a sparkling interview with noted writer William Novak.
Honey from the Rock: A Brit Bat for Our Daughter
Making a brit bat both physical and covenantal.
By Ketura Persellin
Holiday-Related
When Do We Eat?
Eating is not a sideshow at the Passover Seder: It used to be the main event. How do we bring back a merger of holy telling and sacred eating?
By Larry Magarik
Fathers and Sons
A reflection on the four sons of the Haggadah and the sons of Samuel and David in the Bible: Not every father gets the son he wants.
By Sara R. Horowitz
The Four Generations
By Sybil Wolin
Do I Have to Be Happy?
How is Sukkot like surviving cancer? Reflections from the front lines, by Rachel Braun.
Holidays
Misha Angrist takes a light look at going home for the holidays.
Divrei Torah
Of Goats and Scapegoats
From cleaning out hametz to Kol Nidre, from Azazel to Had Gadya – the links between Yom Kippur and Passover are instructive.
By Jody Myers
Whose Responsibility? A Dvar Torah on Boundaries
A conflict in Torah laws leads to an understanding of the limits of human responsibilities.
By Jonathan Richler
The Second Tent
There were two tents in the wilderness, each with a very different modality of connecting to God, explains Rabbi Edward Elkin.
Prayer and Text
Leyning is a Passion
An expert Torah reader reflects on his lifelong passion.
By Bernard Horowitz
Morning Blessings
Put down the siddur, open up your soul: The 15 morning blessings in the daily service are a simple, profound spiritual practice.
By Gilah Langner
Justice, Integrity, Friendship, and Suffering; A Reading of Job
It’s not what you think: Job is a critique of a naive sense of justice in which people get what they deserve.
By Norbert Hornstein
An Amidah Moment
A boy, tzitzit, and Rosh Hashanah.
By Sheri Lindner
Fiction and Midrash
The Fifth Question
A powerful story of a mother and son, and an unforgettable Seder.
By Robin Martin
Morning Minyan
Morning services will never quite be the same after this fast and furious look at the daily minyan.
By Lior Klirs
Midrash on the Eve of a Huppah
By Shai Cherry
Poetry
The Ninth Plague
By Yakov Azriel
Poem for Jonah’s Bar Mitzvah
Kathryn Hellerstein
Babysitter
By Yosefa Raz
Cain
By Eve Grubin
Yoshev B’Sukkah
By Tamar Stern
Remains
By Janet R. Kirchheimer
A Little Bit of Family History
By Hamutal Bar-Yosef
Hattusas
By Daniel A. Harris
Azazel
By Lynn Levin
Reading Yiddish
By Richard Fein
Art
Kaddish and Other Work
Letters and words form the basis of this New York striking visual language.
By Jane Logemann
Linocuts
By Judybeth Greene