Do you remember the cartoons in which a rain cloud would appear and cause a storm over just one individual? Even as we can marvel that, at a given moment, it’s raining in Clayton but not in Ladue, at the J but not at Mirowitz, our St. Louis region...

(JTA) — In his historical account of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, Josephus describes how the Jews slowly succumbed to starvation. At the beginning of the siege, the Jewish faction known as the Zealots burned the grain reserves that had been stored...

This Shabbat marks the start of the Book of Deuteronomy, which reads: “These are the words (d’varim) that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan …” Deuteronomy is also referred to as Mishneh Torah, or the repetition...

Kol Nidrei…“Wait!” you may be thinking. “Is it Yom Kippur already?” But stay with me for a minute.  As many of us may know, Jewish holidays start at sundown and continue until sundown the next day. To help us distinguish the evening of a holiday...

There’s no better time than summer to embrace an ancient Jewish practice that could transform how we connect with each other: kvelling or to Kvell. Kvell—the Yiddish word meaning to burst with pride and joy over someone else’s accomplishments—has...

This past Sunday, we fasted on the 17th of Tammuz, which our rabbis, in Mishnah Ta’anit 4:6, say commemorates five events:  Moshe breaking the Two Tablets upon seeing the Golden Calf;  suspension of the daily offerings in the Temple; the Romans...

This story was originally published by the Jewish Women’s Archive, and is repurposed here with permission. My mother is modern in her love but ancient in her rituals. When I got my first period, she slapped me across the face.Perhaps for her...

Hi, readers, and thank you to Amy Fenster Brown for letting me be the guest columnist this week. I’m Amy’s sister, and I live in Fort Smith, Ark., with my husband, Mike. We have two sons — Nathan, 30, who lives in New York, and Freddie, 26, who...

There are two muffins baking in an oven, a blueberry and a bran. The bran muffin turns to the blueberry and says, “Is it just me, or is it hot in here?” and the blueberry muffin says, “Holy cow! A talking muffin!!!” In this week’s parasha,...

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel devoted much of his writing and teaching to calling people to “Radical Amazement,” or heightened awareness of mystery and awe. "We don't live in an awareness that all that is is an incomprehensible mystery and miracle,”...