You may have heard this one: The story is told of the melamed, the wise schoolteacher, who was walking along the back streets of Chelm one dark night when he was accosted by a masked bandit with a large pistol. “Your money or your life!” the bandit said. “Take my life,” the melamed replied. “I’m…
Arnie Gluck has served the congregation Temple Beth-El of Hillsborough, New Jersey, for 28 years. Sarah Gluck, who is married to Rabbi Gluck, is in her 18th year as the synagogue’s director of education. Shira, the couple’s younger daughter, is in her final year of study at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College, where she…
(JTA) — When Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov took her North Carolina congregation on a Rosh Hashanah boat ride on the Cape Fear River, she hadn’t intended for the body of water’s name to be taken literally. The Wilmington Reform synagogue was performing the ritual of tashlich, in which Jews throw pieces of bread into the water to…
All year long, we wait for the Day of Atonement to seek forgiveness for acting on our sinful inclinations. This year, we will be better. This year, we will shed our skin of all the times we laughed too hard at Sacha Baron Cohen’s jokes. We will finally vote in midterm elections. We might even…
I was wondering if I was reading too much into the near-convergence of Sen. John McCain’s funeral; Labor Day, the traditional kickoff of the campaign season; and Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish holidays of repentance and renewal. But when I saw that Steve Bannon called the National Cathedral service “the High Holy Days”…
Almost ten years ago, I was living in Cambodia in the tourist city of Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temple complex, teaching fifth grade to local gifted Cambodian students. It was an incredible experience — except spiritually. I felt completely isolated from anything resembling a Jewish community. This was right at the cusp…
As a rabbi, I’m often tasked with helping others find meaning in suffering and hope in times of despair. Drawing from the wellspring of biblical and rabbinic wisdom, I frequently find support for a wide range of broken hearts, and I typically have a comforting text to point to. Existential loneliness? Turn to Psalms 23:4:“Though…
The bell of Elul tolls for all of us, and rap gods are no exception. Just days before Rosh Hashanah, rap mogul Kanye West has reached out to musical peer Drake to bury the hatchet over conspiracy theories that, among other things, Drake had an affair with Kanye’s spouse Kim Kardashian. Kim herself came forward…
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