Even though Halloween began as a pagan holiday, it now brings spooky fun to children and adults of all backgrounds, including many Jews who view it more as a traditional holiday than a religious holiday.

There are a few days in my life that stand out. There are the big milestones: my first days of school, going to camp for the first time, and my first homerun. Another one of those dates that stands out is December 28th, 2015. That was the day that I made aliyah and became an Israeli citizen.

As I boarded the plane to Israel in the summer of 2002 for my first year of rabbinical school at HUC in Jerusalem, my mother said, "Please, just don't meet an Israeli." As soon as the plane touched down at Ben Gurion airport, I knew that I was home. A few months later, I met that Israeli. From our first conversation, he understood that I was studying to be a rabbi, and I understood that he wanted to live only in Israel.

We sat down with author and photographer Nomi Ellenson to discuss her work, how her Jewish values have shaped what she does, and her mission to help people of all ages and genders, to see themselves as b'tzelem Elohim, created in the image of the Divine.

In this season, time is immutable. It can be questioned, but not changed. Family can be understood, but not altered. The self, in this case, the result of intergenerational trauma, must be accepted. In Russian Doll, the only way to see the good in the world is to stop looking back, to stop journeying inward, and to the wake up in the present.

Amy Albertson (she/her) is a Chinese Jewish advocate and online educator living in Northern California. She works as a social media consultant for Jewish organizations.

On June 3, 1972, Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as the first woman rabbi in North America. To celebrate this milestone in Jewish and American history, HUC's Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York partnered with The Braid's Story Archive of Women Rabbis in Los Angeles to create the exhibition "Holy Sparks," presenting 24 ground-breaking women rabbis who were "firsts" in their time.

In honor of the upcoming holiday of Mimouna, celebrated by Moroccan Jews at the end of Passover, we sat down with Gal Andres (she/her), who shared her favorite Mimouna celebrations and traditions.

In Sergie Loznitsa’s new documentary film, Babi Yar. Context, the decade spanning the Nazi invasion of Ukraine through the ensuing war crimes trial is explored using only archival footage and the occasional title card. Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) is a ravine outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv where on September 29-30, 1941, the Nazi Regime massacred an estimated 33,771 Jewish people. The result is a stark, uncompromising exploration of war and genocide that enlists the viewer in bearing witness to one of history’s most notorious atrocities.