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Yesh Atid MK Debbie Biton taken out by Knesset guards during a a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Making Yom Kippur count

Fasting is easy. What’s hard is taking responsibility not for our close circles, but for those with whom we vehemently disagree

(iStock)

Ben Lazarus

Who am I kidding? Not G-d

I have questions, and I’m angry sometimes, but Yom Kippur isn’t about what He did to me; rather, I need to account for what I have and haven’t accomplished

FILE: A rabbinical student reads at the Synagogue of the Black Hills in Rapid City, S.D., September 12, 2014. (AP Photo/Kristina Barker)

Jon Argaman

What I learned from editing 50 High Holiday sermons

The topics ranged from ICE to Israel, but the rabbis I worked with all sought answers to the same question: How can Jews live with chronic crisis?

'Jonah Cast Forth by the Whale,' by Gustave Doré, 1874. (National Library of Poland, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons)

Tanya White

Rereading Jonah after NAZA

Abraham is my hero for his complex faith, but Jonah’s intense loyalty to the Jewish people spotlights the fallacy of extending compassion to just everyone

From an illuminated 'Ashamnu,' by Nathan [ben Samson] of Mezhyrich, 1723, in the repentance liturgy. (Wikipedia)

Mijal Bitton

How to fail Yom Kippur

I take my lesson from ‘Severance’ and its portrait of failure; to safeguard against it, I’ll be preparing a personal confession and naming my hopes for the future

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, right, and his wife Rama Duwaji wave at members of media after a news conference at Gracie Mansion, January 12, 2026, in New York. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

Binyamin Krauss

My school will pray outside Gracie Mansion on Friday

Mamdani likely won’t be there, but the kids will learn about their civic responsibilities, their privileges, and how Jews who feel unsafe gather and pray, aloud

(courtesy)

Sarit Zehavi

What ‘Naza’ really means: The truth about collateral damage

The filmmakers mistook the IDF’s system for limiting civilian casualties for something far darker. They should have asked me; I helped build it

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Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Sep 20, 2026, 1:22 PM

Making Yom Kippur count

Yesh Atid MK Debbie Biton taken out by Knesset guards during a a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)

Fasting is easy. What's hard is taking responsibility not for our close circles, but for those with whom we vehemently disagree

Sep 20, 2026, 11:53 AM

Shabbat Shuva and Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur starts tonight; yesterday was one of the reflective moments in the Jewish calendar: *Shabbat Shuvah*, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Shabbat Shuvah takes its name from the opening words of the Haftarah, *Shuvah Yisrael* –...

Sep 20, 2026, 10:29 AM

We Do Not Rely on Miracles, and the Seal of God Is Truth

A recent controversy over a newly hired eighth-grade history teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, has caused me to consider how Jews can defend themselves against falsehoods. Before beginning her job, the teacher had written an undergraduate thesis about pro-Palestinian campus...

Sep 20, 2026, 10:22 AM

Where the Friction Comes From: AIPAC and the Black-Jewish Alliance

Black-Jewish Relations and the AIPAC Question AIPAC is not synonymous with American Jews. But its single-issue electoral strategy has become one source of friction in Black-Jewish politics—and rebuilding the relationship requires confronting that tension honestly. When Black and Jewish Americans talk...

Sep 20, 2026, 9:37 AM

If Britain Breaks, What Would It Mean for Israel?

Britain breaking up?

What until recently sounded largely theoretical has become a little less so. Meeting in Cardiff this week, the leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin signed an agreement asserting the right of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to...

Sep 20, 2026, 9:36 AM

Israel Does Not Need Celebrity Approval

Photo Credits: Sabine Sterk ( AI)

Why should the opinion of a singer, actor or artist be important to Israel? Whether it is Ed Sheeran, Pink, members of Pink Floyd or any other famous person who suddenly feels qualified to lecture Israel, do they honestly believe...

Sep 20, 2026, 9:31 AM

Ashamnu: When Righteous Causes Forget the Other

This Yom Kippur, one word keeps returning to me: Ashamnu. We have sinned. But this year I hear it in a very specific way: we have stopped considering the other. Inside Israel, we see it in our actions. A road was blocked, and...

Gabriella Jacobs

Sep 20, 2026, 9:17 AM

A slightly less selfish Yom Kippur wish list

I have a confession to make before Yom Kippur: I am often pretty self-centered in my davening. For as long as I can remember, the majority of my Yamim Noraim prayers have been devoted to my own little collection of...

Sep 20, 2026, 9:12 AM

A Lamentation for Jerusalem: Remembering Emek Refaim

Construction on Emek Refaim - (c) Ilana Brown

I used to love to walk on Emek Refaim. No matter the weather, it was the best part of my day. I could find myself imagining the street from any time in the past, and everyone was there. Maybe...

Eliezer Avraham

Sep 20, 2026, 8:47 AM

October 7: The Courage That Rises When the World Falls

AI generated illustration

An exploration of faith, identity, and the quiet resolve that emerged in the aftermath When the World Became Unrecognizable There are moments in Jewish history when the ground beneath us gives way, when the moral order collapses in an instant....

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