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Sep 8, 2026, 1:20 PM

The Most Heartfelt Shehecheyanu I’ll Ever Say

It took double bypass heart surgery to teach me to stop bypassing the things that really matter. This Friday night Rosh Hashanah begins. At our dinner table I will raise my kiddush cup full of wine and say a blessing...

Hande Gençünal

Sep 8, 2026, 4:08 AM

A Litany Born From Drought, on Avinu Malkeinu

We repeat this prayer every year, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, morning and afternoon. This year, rereading the actual Talmudic story, a detail I'd always skipped past caught my eye. On the twenty-fifth page of tractate Ta'anit, the story...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Sep 7, 2026, 4:35 AM

The Haftara for the first day of Rosh HaShana (Shmuel I:1:1-2:10) tells the story of Chana and how she yearned for a child. In Shmuel I:1:9-11 we read: Chana stood up after eating in Shilo and after drinking; Eli the...

Andy Blumenthal

Sep 6, 2026, 7:18 AM

Israel Must Act. G-d Determines the Outcome.

Even after all these years, Israel’s ability to meet danger with courage, intelligence, and resolve still inspire awe. +1 These were not routine achievements. They required intelligence, meticulous planning, technological skill, courage, and the resolve of soldiers and commanders who shoulder...

Sep 5, 2026, 9:49 AM

We Are Closer Than You Think

Upper School student in Maimonides School, Brookline, MA

Ever since I watched Rabbi Dov Huff teach a new song to our eighth graders at our weekly kumsitz several years ago, there is a phrase in Parshat Netzavim, and on our lips this time of year, that I have...

Sep 3, 2026, 4:54 AM

The Heebie-Jeebies of a Driverless Tesla

As I sat in the driver's seat of my self-driving Tesla, I experienced a rare case of the heebie-jeebies. Yes, anxiety crept up every rung of my spine. I had put my life in the hands of artificial intelligence. Quite...

Shayna Goldberg

Sep 1, 2026, 8:01 PM

When we forget, God remembers

This Rosh Hashana, I'm grateful that He remembers the father I remember. The strong, wise one I could turn to with any question, before Alzheimer's began taking him from us

Sep 1, 2026, 8:10 AM

The Seven Days, the Seven Sefirot, and the Daily Psalms

“The Ark of the Covenant Brought unto his Place; The Levites Singing,” c. 1589, by Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), engraved by Adriaen Collaert and published by Philip Galle. Royal Library of Belgium, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain (CC0)

There is a beautiful idea in Jewish mystical thought that the seven days of the week correspond to the seven lower sefirot—the Divine qualities through which God's presence is expressed in the world: Sunday — Chesed: loving-kindness and giving Monday —...

Joel M. Greenberg

Sep 1, 2026, 12:27 AM

The Spiritual Side of Financial Planning

Teshuvah, Tefillah and Tzedakah: The Spiritual Side of Financial Planning On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we say that teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah—return, prayer and charitable giving—can transform the severity of the decree. These words can also provide a meaningful framework for...

Aug 26, 2026, 8:28 PM

The doors I wish we could keep open

Illustrative: Hoboken Police officers stand watch outside the United Synagogue of Hoboken, Nov. 3, 2022, in Hoboken, N.J. (AP Photo/Ryan Kryska, File)

This holiday season, US synagogues want to welcome new people, even as we're cautious about who we let in. We've gotten used to the dance, but isn't that part of the problem?

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