(JTA) — I was born in Jerusalem, a city that is the pinnacle of multifaith expression. Yet instead of growing up with a sense of coexistence, I was surrounded by segregation both politically and communally. I did not know what truly living together...
“Who shall live and who shall die … who by water and who by fire … who by earthquake and who by plague …”
(JTA) — Twenty years ago, people cried when they said these words on Rosh Hashanah, six days after the attacks of Sept. 11. The...
By Carnie Shalom Rose
• Published September 4, 2021
This story was originally published on Sept. 10, 2020.
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose and three additional Hadar fellows reflect on the calls of the shofar
In this unprecedented year when our High Holiday experiences will surely be modified to address...
(JTA) — On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, in my second year of rabbinical school, while working at my first-ever High Holiday pulpit, I accidentally conceived.
I had my first bout of morning sickness in our introductory Talmud course, and my...
(JTA) — Deborah Lipstadt, recently named by President Joe Biden as the U.S. Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, won’t just combat anti-Semitism but may well eliminate it.
And that would be a mistake.
To be clear, the Emory University...
(Israel21c) - It’s that time of year, when we look forward to the temperatures dropping as well as the number of Covid cases. So the possibility of hiking the Israel Trail, the country’s longest at approximately 1,025 kilometers (about 637 miles),...
(JTA) — “Hey Allies: Please don’t schedule meetings or events on the Jewish holidays!” So says a meme that has circulated widely in recent days including the dates for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
Seems like a pretty...
(JTA) — To the rabbis and religious leaders putting the finishing touches to your High Holiday sermons, I’d like to make a suggestion: Use this Jewish New Year to talk about Israel from the pulpit.
And not just Israel. Talk about the bonds between...
Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein
• Published August 31, 2021
(JTA) — Over the past year, I have led efforts to teach, guide and coach rabbis and other clergy of every Jewish denomination. We have worked with over 500 individual members of the clergy, serving hundreds of thousands of people since the COVID-19...
(JTA) — When a local Orthodox synagogue asked me to lead Yom Kippur prayers six years ago, one aspect of the request stood out: Was I comfortable using the “High Holyday Prayer Book” translated and edited by Philip Birnbaum?
The archaic spelling...
A dozen years ago, my twin brother Stuart passed away. At his funeral, in my eulogy for him, I noted that I had just lost “my oldest and closest friend.” In July, I lost another very close friend. Unlike my brother, who lingered for months with cancer,...
(JTA) — We are, once again, in a season of reckoning with sexual abuse in the Jewish community and in the country.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned after a state attorney general investigation found that he sexually harassed at least 11 women,...
