“On Rosh HaShanah, the year’s decree is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed, who will live and who will die…”

We hear these words each year in our High Holidays prayer book, and they fill our hearts with dread: Have I done what was right, or at least the

The Mi Shebeirach, a Jewish prayer for healing, has been set to music by several contemporary Jewish musicians, including the late Debbie Friedman.

Every year on the High Holidays, police officers sit outside our synagogue to protect our community and building from harm.

I understand why the police are there. I know the risk that comes with openly celebrating Judaism.

A new year is a time to reflect, a time to repair, and a time to renew.

Judaism teaches us, as the Psalmist says, to “number our days,” to make each day count.

My husband and I experimented with a CSA (community-supported agriculture) this year for the first time. It was like getting a surprise box every week. In our second CSA, we pulled out something we’d never seen before.

The next time I Skyped with our

We're late, so we rush to be in front of another person in line. We speak rudely to a sales caller who is only trying to do her job. We snap at a family member because we're tired.

We've all seen it happen. And sometimes we've made it happen.

In Pirkei Avot, the rabbis wrote, “Mitzvah goreret mitzvah, averah goreret averah,” one mitzvah (commandment/good deed) leads to another mitzvah, and one transgression leads to another transgression.

I was told, once, that if we, as Jews, remember only one prayer, the Sh'ma is that prayer. It defines us in the declaration that God is One. It is a command: "Listen!" It is hope - in unity, in our covenant, with God. I wrote this poem as a tribute to the Sh

Say what you will, but I prefer the Rosh HaShanah children's service to the adult one. It's a little under an hour, and it's lighter on the lengthy recitations of the full evening service.