On Thursday morning Sept. 20, I will open my newspaper and see the traditional day-after Yom Kippur picture: one of Israel’s busiest highways completely deserted during the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Indeed, among the secular Israeli public, Yom Kippur is often thought of as “Bicycle Day,” since the absence of cars makes every…
As one might expect of the Jewish state, the holy days of the Jewish religion are national holidays. A good example is the holiday of Shavuot, which this year begins on Saturday night, May 19. While it is possible to go about one’s business in the diaspora without even realizing that Shavuot has come and…
Pictured above: Yonatan Razel at the piano, his instrument of choice. Photo by Ohad Romano As I was thinking about the upcoming Passover preparations, two distinct thoughts entered my mind. This year, I want to share two recommendations for Passover. 1) We all have our favorite Passover seder melodies. If we are guests at a…
Many Americans have lost touch with the origins of Thanksgiving. When you ask someone to explain the reason for the holiday, they often link the holiday to American ideals like democracy, pluralism and freedom of religion. Since most Americans live their lives far removed from agriculture, few remember that Thanksgiving grew out of the same…
Toward the end of her law studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, my younger daughter, Ruthie, 27, worked on legal matters for Mavoi Satum (mavoisatum.org). This organization tries to resolve the “dead end” faced by agunot (women whose husbands cannot be located) and mesoravot get (women denied a get, the Jewish writ of divorce)….
Before I moved to Israel I was always puzzled by the ending to the Book of Jonah, read on Yom Kippur as part of the mincha service. As you might recall, Jonah is upset at God for pardoning the city of Nineveh, and he says: “Please, Lord, take my life, for I would rather die than…
The school year in Israel runs from Sept. 1 through June 30. Israeli kids especially look forward to hahofesh ha-gadol (“the big vacation,” as summer break is universally called here), because they go to school six days a week. So during the school year they seldom get a chance to sleep over at a friend’s…
The following is my free translation based on the work of my friend and teacher, Rabbi Lior Engelman. When we were children it was clear which of the Hanukkah candles was the most important: the shamash, the “helper” candle. It is the most prominent and tallest candle – it is one of a kind. The…
A free translation from the work of Rabbi Lior Engelman As part of the spiritual accounting that characterizes the period of the High Holidays, we are invited to survey ourselves and ask honestly: In relation to last year, has our spiritual condition improved or worsened; were the hopes that we expressed during last year’s High…
Jews around the world are familiar with the fall holidays: a three-week period beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Simchat Torah. However, only in Israel is Passover the beginning of another three-week holiday period. A few days after the end of Passover, Israel observes Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), which this year is on Thursday,…
