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Steven C. Wernick

Oct 6, 2026, 7:08 PM

Three Years After October 7, We Remember

A medieval parable about not letting go, and what bereaved Israeli families are teaching us about it. Tomorrow marks three years since October 7. For many Jews, the anniversary has already come. On the Hebrew calendar in the Diaspora, the massacre...

Oct 2, 2026, 7:12 PM

The Crown of Compassion

Why I Created the Royal House of Kanaani — and Why I Believe the Way We Treat Animals Can Bring Redemption Closer By Ordained Animal Chaplain Mikhail Salita (Rav Papa Kanaani) Humanity has made remarkable progress in the way we think...

Mordechai Silverstein

Oct 2, 2026, 6:26 PM

Shemini Atzeret – Is It Sukkot, or Isn’t It?

Shemini Atzeret is a confusing holiday. Is it part of Sukkot, or isn’t it? And why the confusion? In one place, the Torah describes Sukkot as lasting seven days (Deut. 16:13–15). Similarly, the mitzvot of lulav and etrog and of...

Maximillian Hollander

Oct 1, 2026, 10:40 PM

Shemini Atzeret: A Lost Holiday of Holding

For my father, Jewish practice was about family. The son of immigrants who were always working to build their new lives in America after the Holocaust, Shabbat and holidays were often the only opportunities my father had to spend quality...

Oct 1, 2026, 10:32 AM

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah: Dancing with a broken heart

Celebration and Remembrance

I don't fully know how to walk into shul this week. This is supposed to be the happiest day we have. The Torah ends and starts over, all the sifrei Torah come out of the aron; everybody dances. No hard...

Oct 13, 2025, 4:15 PM

Saying goodbye is hard: Simchat Torah and October 7th

Jews pray in memory of the victims of the October 7th massacre and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, on the morning of the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, in Jerusalem, October 24, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

On this overwhelmingly sad day of remembrance, parting from the holiday is a challenge, but we channel our grief and focus on the underlying love

Oct 12, 2025, 1:31 PM

On the eve of Shemini Atzeret, you couldn’t make it up

On the eve of Shemini Atzeret, the festival that celebrates the ultimate oneness between God and His people, Israel stands on the verge of another kind of homecoming. After two years of heartbreak and division, the news that hostages...

Robert Lichtman

Oct 6, 2025, 11:42 PM

Hope is a muscle

In the lobby of my synagogue is an elegantly set table waiting for the hostages being held in Gaza to gather around it and enjoy a beautiful Shabbat or Yom Tov meal. I’ve taken it upon myself to kindle Shabbat candles...

Robert Lichtman

Sep 20, 2024, 7:13 PM

It was October 7, but it will always be Shmini Atzeret

Upsplash

This is what we will do as communities, federations, congregations, Hillels, JCCs, day schools, and clusters of close-knit friends. We will gather to mourn the tragic plague inflicted last year upon our loved ones in Israel, and through a connection cherished by...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Dec 31, 2023, 12:01 AM

One of Moses’ first heroic acts of kindness recorded in the Bible was his helping out the daughters of Jethro who were harassed by the local shepherds. Jethro’s seven daughters had already arrived at the well and “drew” water...

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