Content on Holidays (Page 2)
Risks and Rewards in a World of Unknowns
Professors Emily Oster and Stuart Firestein offer advice for rabbis for deciding what to do about the High Holy Days during COVID-19 – and how to live with the unavoidable uncertainty.
Moral Proximity in a Time of Social Distance
The difficulty of judging our need for physical distance can turn into something much worse: moral distance.
Darkness and Light, Cosmology and Creation – In Memory of Rabbi Adam Feldman z”l
What was that darkness? A black hole? What was that light? Electromagnetic energy? Radiation?
How the Sights, Smells and Sounds of Chanukah Create Memories
Memory, whether personal or collective, seems to be a central feature of Jewish practice.
The Torah is True – Even if It’s Not Fact
Some truths are true because they are the stories that shape our perspective on the world. Torah is the inspiration for, and the vessel that holds, this Truth.
Hope Amidst Crisis… Because ‘This Too Shall Pass’
“Gam zeh yaavor”—this too shall pass, whether “this” is a sorrowful or a joyful feeling or situation. This phrase can apply in a myriad of ways if we let it.
The Wonder Of It All
Just as we have learned that solid and liquid can be two states of the same matter, the sureties of our world are not what they seem.
Striving for Teshuvah Together
We may associate the Jewish New Year with inward reflection, but the Mishnah and the commentaries are clear that Judaism treats teshuvah as a fundamentally social process.
High Holy Day Lessons from “The Good Place”
As Jews begin to prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and a new season of “The Good Place” starts soon, what lessons can the show teach us for 5780?
How the Days of Awe Nourish Our Emotions
Amid the sweetness and celebration of Rosh Hashana, rituals like Yizkor and hearing the sound of the shofar open up access to emotions that we often bottle up.
“Unetaneh Tokef” is Now Almost Obsolete — Thank God
What would happen if we took Unetaneh Tokef literally, and truly ask the questions it poses?
Baseball, Passover and Rebirth
In the spring, on Passover and on Opening Day, everything feels possible.