There are many instances in which our relationship to God is compared to the relationship between a bride and groom. The upcoming dual holiday of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah is one such example. As we dance with the Torah, it is compared to the wedding celebration; when we are…

There is simply no describing the plaintive, moving melody to which Yiddish writer Avraham Reisen’s poem was set. As a song, it is familiar to many of us who were introduced to it by immigrant parents or grandparents. And, remarkably, the strains of "A Sukkeleh," no matter how often…

For some, the very idea of religion is paradoxical. On the one hand, we want to experience God, to soar to great spiritual heights. But on the other hand, we are often taken aback by the seemingly picayune details of our rituals: The precise quantity of wine necessary for…

Like many High Holidays worshipers, Andrew Steinerman had traditionally dealt with the Yom Kippur prohibition on wearing leather footwear by turning to Converse’s classic Chuck Taylor high-top canvas basketball shoe.

Not anymore. This year the prominent Wall Street analyst sported a pair of black Crocs to his Modern Orthodox shul…

One of the highlights of the Sukkot holiday is the waving of the Lulav and Etrog. When we perform this mitzvah, we can also delight in the wonderful fragrance of the Etrog and enjoy the verdant colorations of the Lulav. It is somewhat sad when at the end of…

Even more than the yearning voice of the cantor during the High Holy Days, I remember the palpable weeping of the worshippers, especially that of my grandmother together with her contemporaries in the women’s gallery of my childhood synagogue in Brooklyn (Congregation Etz Chaim Anshei Lubien, on Dekalb Avenue),…

It has been said that Sandy Koufax did more for Judaism by refusing to pitch on Yom Kippur than almost anyone else in modern times. The year was 1965 and the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing against the Minnesota Twins in the World Series. Koufax, the Dodgers’ pitching ace,…

An odd Rosh Hashana custom, duly recorded in the Talmud and halachic codes, is the lavishing of puns on holiday foods.

Most Jews know that on the first night of the new Jewish year, it is customary to eat a piece of apple dipped in honey, to symbolize…

Tisha B’Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year (2005) on August 15, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Today…

The Ba’al Hagadah says: "B’chol dor v’dor chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mi’mitzrayim." "In every generation we are obliged to consider ourselves as having personally participated in the exodus from Egypt".

(Note: Rabbi Isidore Greengrass was born in Lomza,…

Everyone around the seder table enjoys a spirited singing of Dayenu, the quintessential thanksgiving to G-d for every step that He guided us to take on the road to redemption. Had He taken us out of Egypt and not wrought so many judgments against the Egyptians, it would…

"Ma Nishtana HaLayla Hazeh"—"How is this night different from all other nights? We were once slaves in Egypt, but God redeemed us, bringing us out from the land to freedom."

Very soon Jews from around the world will chant this familiar refrain,…

I’m not ready for Passover.  I haven’t even bought matzah.  Seriously, I’ve done nothing.  I’m now in panic mode.

OK, I can do this. I’ve done it for years. All I have to do is box up my kitchen, clean out the…

Why is April 3 different from all other nights in April?

On this night Conservative, Orthodox and some Reconstructionist Jews outside Israel will sit down to their second Passover seder, while Reform and Israeli Jews will eat as on any other night of the…

We sat listlessly on our bunks, waiting impatiently for the high point of our day – our meager ration of bread. It was my seventh month in Dachau’s Death Camp #4.

"Do you know that tomorrow is Purim?" I asked, trying to…

OP-ED Don’t have a cow: It will help in fight against global warming

Today, as people who are to be a "light unto the nations," Jews have a responsibility to help save that world by working to reverse global warming, the greatest…

Shavuot, one of the trio of Jewish "pilgrimage" festivals that also includes Passover and Sukkot, tends to get short shrift from most American Jews.  Coming mere weeks after the Passover seders, perhaps the "first-fruits festival" simply finds many folks "holidayed out".  Or maybe it's because Shavuot lacks any unusual…

An anonymous source breathes heavily on the other end of the receiver, softly intoning that the only way to get the goods is from an inside contact.

Through friends, I discretely discover my intermediary, who leads me through several dark corridors for an encounter with an angry man.…

There are two main verses which exhort us to remember the exodus from Egypt: "Remember  this day when you went out from Egypt, from the house of bondage; leavening shall not be eaten" (Exodus 13:3) and "You shall not eat leavening with (the Pascal Sacrifice) for seven days! in…

A humorous look at the most widely celebrated Jewish holiday

A wondrous holiday Passover is, filled with memories, the taste of freedom and the warmth of the family Seder.  It is the most celebrated Jewish ritual of the year with 83% of Jews attending a Seder.  59% actually…