Yom Kippur
The ‘chai’ charm that keeps this secretary of health grounded in the value of life
By Yonat Shimron — September 17, 2020
RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) — Mandy Cohen, North Carolina’s secretary of health and human services, has threaded the needle of this politically charged moment by balancing her devotion to scientific data and her faith.
Second coronavirus lockdown in Israel frustrates many religious Jews’ plans for High Holidays
By Michele Chabin — September 16, 2020
JERUSALEM (RNS) — The three-week shutdown is timed not only to take advantage of the slow pace of the High Holiday period, but is also an acknowledgment that crowded religious institutions were a coronavirus breeding ground this past winter.
Synagogue awards for creative worship on the High Holy Days
By Jeffrey Salkin — September 9, 2020
These synagogues are doing unbelievable things for the High Holy Days. Like, really, unbelievable.
Shofar lessons are becoming a pre-holiday necessity in the age of coronavirus
By Yonat Shimron — September 3, 2020
(RNS) — Jewish law requires that the shofar be heard in person. But with synagogues shuttered because of the coronavirus, many Jews are dusting off old ritual objects and taking online lessons so they can produce that clarion wail.
2 killed in shooting near German synagogue; 1 person arrested
By Geir Moulson and Jens Meyer — October 9, 2019
HALLE, Germany (AP) — An attacker tried to force his way into the synagogue in the city of Halle but did not get in as 70 to 80 people inside were observing Yom Kippur, a local Jewish leader said.
Felled by bullets, 11 Pittsburgh Jews will be remembered this Yom Kippur as martyrs
By Yonat Shimron — October 8, 2019
(RNS) — A new poem to be recited during services Wednesday (Oct. 9) is just one example of the tangible ways the horrific events of Oct. 27, 2018, are reshaping the American Jewish community.
Your rabbi has sinned
By Jeffrey Salkin — October 6, 2019
Religious professionals screw up in all sorts of ways. Forgive them.
The idea that God — or someone — is always watching comes to life with technology
By Menachem Wecker — October 3, 2019
(RNS) — Modern technology has brought the idea that a higher power is always watching — and has a recording device handy — to life.
Unetanah Tokef with hyperlinks: Adapting a High Holiday prayer to today’s world
By Jan Zauzmer — September 27, 2019
(RNS) — The fearsome possibilities meditated in the High Holidays prayer Unetanah Tokef strike an elegant balance between predetermination and free will. Here, a version annotated for our times.
On the eve of Rosh Hashana, fewer are paying for High Holy Day seats
By Yonat Shimron — September 26, 2019
(RNS) — Long a source of revenue for synagogues and a tool to manage the rush of holiday-time visitors, the ticket system is a victim of the times.
Universal ethical truths are at the core of Jewish High Holy Days
By Ronald W. Pies — September 26, 2019
(The Conversation) — Judaism encompasses a wide range of beliefs, and the ethical core of its upcoming holidays transcends religious doctrines and embodies universal ethical truths.
For synagogues, High Holidays welcome is complicated by security needs
By Holly Lebowitz Rossi — September 24, 2019
BOSTON (RNS) — At a time of year when people who rarely attend show up, or when people show up for the first time, balancing friendliness and safety becomes especially tricky.
Has the time come for America to atone for its original sin?
By Paul O'Donnell — July 29, 2019
(RNS) — In one of the most significant developments in religious history, slaves cast aside passivity and servitude using a biblical story that is central to Jewish worship. It's time for America to complete that story with atonement in the public square.
Paul Simon’s Yom Kippur sermon
By Jeffrey Salkin — September 20, 2018
Paul Simon is now homeward bound. Aren't we all?
Yom Kippur: A time for feasting as well as fasting
By The Conversation — September 18, 2018
(The Conversation) — The Jewish practice of abstaining from food on Yom Kippur is out of step with the rest of Jewish tradition, which in its religious and cultural guises has always revolved around food.
