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A wedding present in the making since before he was born (illustrative: BongkarnThanyakij / iStock)

Romi Sussman

I have kept this secret for 25 years

As my oldest son prepared to marry, the time finally came to share something I’d been making for him since he was a baby

Tamar Pross

When my Israeli son asked me ‘What is Jewish?’

It took moving our family to Australia for me to understand what my 9-year-old had always taken for granted

A recording and transcription of the Agranat Commission. (Lkahan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sagit Alkobi Fishman

The Yom Kippur lesson Israel still needs after October 7

No inquiry can guarantee that an Israeli ‘conception’ won’t collapse down the road, but it can turn a catastrophe into an event we learn from, and that’s worth it

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

Construction on Emek Refaim - (c) Ilana Brown

Ilana Brown

A lamentation for Jerusalem: Remembering Emek Refaim

The city that Yehuda Amichai and I love is disappearing amid bland high-rises that crush the Eternal City’s spirit with mediocrity and greed (PHOTO ESSAY)

The Gothics. (Wikipedia)

Henry Greenspan

The Trail Book of Life

Hiking in the Adirondacks on Yom Kippur yielded its own kind of spiritual resplendence, though I couldn’t stop myself poking fun at fellow transgressors there

(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

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Bernard P. Markowicz

Sep 23, 2026, 11:02 AM

From ‘Never Again’ to Tikkun Olam

The Road Ahead...

Who Gets to Define What Being Jewish Means? · Part 3 of 3 To me, Tikkun Olam is the most important concept in Judaism. It gives meaning to being the "Chosen People": a responsibility to help repair a world in...

Sep 23, 2026, 11:01 AM

Screenshot

Golda Meir looks different to me after October 7. My uncle Yossi Peer’s younger brother was Ze’ev Peer, Zeevik. He was 19 when the Yom Kippur War began and served in a tank unit. On October 7, 1973, his tank...

Sep 23, 2026, 10:59 AM

Up from Punxsutawney

Wikimedia Commons

In 1934, when he was 17, my Dad alav hashalom got his first Yomim Noro'im job (Ashkenozis intended) in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. If Punxsutawney sounds not just silly but familiar, that is because Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog,...

Richard H. Schwartz

Sep 23, 2026, 10:49 AM

Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and the Jewish Case for Vegetarianism and Veganism

Many meaningful connections link vegetarianism and veganism (hereafter, “veg*ism”) with the Jewish festivals of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah. Together, these festivals offer an opportunity to reflect on Jewish teachings about food, compassion, gratitude, humility, environmental stewardship, and...

Sep 23, 2026, 8:11 AM

From Lab to Life: 100,000 Japanese Centenarians

From Lab to Life: 100,000 Japanese Centenarians By Shlomo Maital Source: depositphotos.com On September...

Michael Gencher

Sep 23, 2026, 8:06 AM

Albanese’s UN Ambitions: Australian Jews Uneasy

As Prime Minister Albanese Pursues a UN Seat, Australian Jews Question Where They Stand Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's latest international ambition comes at a particularly difficult time for Australia's Jewish community. His government has launched its campaign for a...

Sep 23, 2026, 7:15 AM

Something interesting

During Yom Kippur, just before Yizkor at the Chabad of Waterways, in Aventura in South Florida, Rabbi Brusowankin told us something interesting. He told the story of a Japanese man who mourned the passing of his cousin. The man put...

Sep 23, 2026, 7:10 AM

This May Be the Last Time

When I first started going to Shabbat services, I liked the sermons. I liked the contemporary and progressive Jewish music. And I loved the community. I have since told people that if this had been a badminton club, I...

Sep 23, 2026, 5:55 AM

A Jewish Take on AI and Social Media

Note: The sermon version of this article, titled, "Can Claude be Counted for a Minyan?" was delivered on Kol Nidrei at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD), where Rabbi Schwarz is the Founding Rabbi. Increasingly, people I spend time with...

Grant Arthur Gochin

Sep 23, 2026, 5:53 AM

Lithuania’s History Problem Starts at Home

At the UN, Gitanas Nausėda made falsification of history a question of trust, human rights and democracy. Lithuania has spent years applying that standard outward. Its own state memory institution supplies the domestic test. On September 21, 2026, the Lithuanian...

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