Before Moshe relays to the Children of Israel the Divine command to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle where God can dwell among them, he relays to Israel the mitzvah to keep Shabbat. This is in keeping with God’s commands to Moshe, as we saw in Parshat...

The most obscure bit of trivia the Jewish Light learned at the 2025 Purim reenactment and parade was that Popeye the Sailor Man was created by Jewish cartoonist E. C. Segar. Bret and Mary Silverglate offered up this factoid. They were dressed as Popeye...

For over a year, an image of the Bibas family in Batman pajamas symbolized the global call for their return from captivity in Gaza. This Purim, children in Israel and beyond are dressing as Batman for Purim to honor Ariel Bibas, the 4-year-old who was...

This week, we celebrate Purim. The holiday is a remembrance of a dark tale, filled with trickery, deception, and plots of murder and revenge. The themes of the story are heavy and important. But the celebration of Purim is surrounded by a gauzy cloud...

On a typical afternoon in University City, you don’t generally see a pink and blue shark, Wonder Woman, Popeye, CIA spies and a guy dressed as a Rubik’s Cube walking down the street together. Or Haman and Mordecai chatting about their weekend plans....

When I was a kid, my friends and I read a book series called Captain Underpants. In the story, two kids unwittingly transform their school principal into a superhero. By day, Mr. Krupp is a grumpy, intimidating authority figure. By night, he is a superhero...

An endless Passover seder takes center stage in “One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe,” by writer Dara Horn and illustrator Theo Ellsworth, award-winners who teamed up for a humor-filled, time-travel graphic novel for young people. The tale...

Tickets are now on sale for the 2025 installment of  “The Passover Project: A Musical Seder,” at the City Winery on Tuesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.) Rooted in a few examples from other creative communities around the country, the ...

A job for which I am highly unqualified is music supervisor. Music supervisors choose what songs will accompany a given scene in film or television. You have to know a wide array of musical styles and genres (I don’t), and be good at knowing just what...

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. We live in a world of constant movement. We travel freely, from our cars, to our homes, places of work, shopping and...

This week’s Torah portion, Vaera, describes the first seven of the 10 plagues that God wrought upon Egypt so that Pharaoh would heed Moses’ pleas to let our people go. After each request from Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh refuses. A plague is brought upon...

Shmot is a portion of opposites. It begins with the names of Jacob’s sons who traveled to Egypt. The 11 brothers are listed by name. Furthermore, we read that the number of souls who made this journey totaled 70. Memory is crucial to the Jewish people....