Remembering Leonard Fein: Writer, Innovator, Intellectual
In every generation, figures of influence rise to leadership. They reshape the Jewish community in their image. Sometimes they are public intellectuals, sometimes institution builders, sometimes analysts, sometimes power brokers.
Teen Travel Partnership Strengthens Jewish German Relations
Last February, 150 people—Jews and Gentiles, Americans and Germans—stood side-by-side in a restored synagogue in rural Oberdorf Germany to celebrate Shabbat for the first time in 75 years.
Parashah R'eih: Making Sacred Food Choices
A b’rachah (blessing) isn’t enough. Anytime we delve into Torah study, we need more than the b’rachah over study; we need words of strength to brace ourselves, as we engage in Torah’s complexity.
Every Day is Labor Day
Every day is Labor Day. Jewish tradition expounds the importance of work and those who do it. Even God worked for six days and then rested on Shabbat. The Jewish vision of the messianic era is not an age of idleness, but rather one in which swords become plowshares.
"Adon Olam" Gets Happy
Think you've heard enough of Pharrell's "Happy," the hit song from Despicable Me 2? This Top 40 tune was arguably the biggest Top 40 song of the summer, and now a new version of it has come along - a Jewish version!
The Elul Mitzvah Challenge: Join In!
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.
The Torah In Haiku: R'eih
Carnivores rejoice!
Eat meat to your heart's content
God says it's okay
But first check the list
What's allowed and forbidden
And don't eat the blood
B'nai Mitzvah for Do-it-Yourself Jews
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal tells the stories of several Brooklyn families that planned and carried out do-it-yourself b’nai mitzvah ceremonies and receptions f
An Arizona Congregation Forms a New Kind of "Israel Bonds"
Jews of a certain age might share similar early impressions of Israel. In Chicago, where I grew up, the young congregants at Lawn Manor Hebrew Congregation were inculcated with a firm commitment to the Jewish state.
The (Circle) Spiral of Jewish Life
We often think about the cycle of the year-the change of the air in the fall, or the blossoming of new life in the spring-and we see a circle.