By Jay Michaelson
Here’s a simple question: What does spirituality do? Television entertains, travel inspires, law patrols the boundaries — but what about the practices of religion? What purpose do they serve?
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By Devra Ferst
Nearly two dozen teenagers looked out over the ravine at Bear Mountain in New York, pausing from their hike to take in the vista of treetops spreading out in front of them.
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By Lana Gersten
At a time when many pulpit rabbis have fewer congregants to attend to, a Jewish institution is urging them to turn their attention to a larger flock — American society.Read More
By Jay Michaelson
In a recent sermon, up-and-coming rabbi David Ingber complained, “You never hear about love in Jewish newspapers.” Part of the reason for this is, of course, that love is rarely newsworthy; crisis is just better press. But it is true, in the Jewish world, that religiously, intellectually and culturally, love isn’t serious.
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By Michael Casper
When most people think of Hasidic dynasties, what come to mind are the consonant-rich Ukrainian villages after which so many are named, like Vizhnitz, Munkacz and Skver. American cities have also produced Hasidic lineages, the most famous of which has been based in Boston for a half-century and led by the charismatic Levi Yitzchak Horowitz. But due to poor health, the Bostoner rebbe, as Levi Yitzchak is commonly known, has relocated to Israel, leaving members of the community to speculate over the future of the group.
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By Marissa Brostoff
If you are an employee at a leading Florida furniture chain and have a bone to pick, you might take your grievance to human resources. Then again, you might talk over the matter over with the company’s priest, its minister, or even its rabbi.
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Like many rabbinical candidates, Sara Brandes, who is about to graduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, originally hadn’t planned to become a rabbi. But during a year she spent in Israel after college, she discovered that her interests — which included psychology and religion — could be combined in a single job. “I just realized that in Judaism, we call this person ‘rabbi,’” Brandes said.
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By Jay Michaelson
What is meditation, and why is it continuing to appear in more and more synagogues long after the Kabbalah craze and other spiritual fads have faded?Read More
By Sara Liss
A new beachfront restaurant in this South Florida city is billing itself as the country’s first kabbalistic restaurant.Read More
Why Do Jews Intermarry at a Much Higher Rate Than Others?
The Mirror in the Mikveh
If Rabbis Are Allowed To Intermarry, Get Ready for the Non-Jewish Rabbi
Top 10 Badass Mah Jongg Jews
A Moral Responsibility
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