High Holidays

What’s the Difference Between the Secular and Jewish New Year?

Aron Hirt-Manheimer

While there are significant differences between how we usher in and observe the secular and Jewish New Year, both are times of transition that offer us an opportunity for self-reflection. Here are the key differences.

Man holding a laptop in bed while wearing a shirt and tie on top with plaid pajama pants on the bottom

Jewish Values

3 Previously Frowned-Upon Behaviors to Embrace During the High Holidays at Home

Rabbi Paul Kipnes

September 22, 2020

The new normal of distanced coronavirus kehilla t'filah (communal prayer) offers new ways to enhance your Home High Holidays. Consider these three previously banned behaviors to warm up your worship.

A person in a yellow jacket faces the ocean while standing at the edge of a beach with a line of footprints in the sand

Racial Justice

This Yom Kippur, Let Your Emotions Serve as "Radical Blessings"

C.E. Harrison

September 20, 2020

As we no longer serve God through temple sacrifices, many Jews have come to understand the entire world, in essence, to be God’s temple. This year, I believe we have vandalized God’s temple with the blood of the innocent.

Laptop on a table in a living room displaying a man in a kippah blowing a shofar

Rosh HaShanah

In Celebration of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur at Home

Micaela Hellman-Tincher

September 16, 2020

Like many, I'm mourning the chance to "go" to High Holiday services at my synagogue. But I've also had the joy of observing Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur at home, so I know this year will be wonderfully meaningful.

A womans outstretched hands holding three red apples

Elul

How to Get into the High Holidays State of Mind

Rabbi Julie Zupan

September 15, 2020

It's a challenge and necessity, especially during this pandemic, to set boundaries between work time and family or personal time, between home office and home. How do we do that, emotionally?