Yom Kippur Haiku

September 20, 2026

On this Yom Kippur

I tried to do kaparot,

But I was chicken.

©2026 Alan Smason

OP-ED: Please forgive me for what I think on Yom Kippur

September 18, 2026

By ALAN SMASON

When I was a little boy, I read the propaganda distributed in the classroom. I watched the films and TV shows the teachers showed us and, like most of my classmates, I believed what they said.

Both...

Person in the Parsha: Ha’azinu (Shabbat Shuva)

September 18, 2026

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“REPRESSION OF THE SUBLIME”

It was advertised as one symposium at a major psychology conference. It was to be a discussion about memory and forgetfulness. But it turned out...

Splendid!

September 18, 2026

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

This Shabbat, I will be serving my congregation as Torah Reader. I have taken on this liturgical role in memory of my mother, whose 35th Yahrzeit is this Shabbat. The Torah Reading is Parshat Ha’azinu...

OP-ED: Yom Kippur puts forgiveness on the calendar. Real repair doesn’t work that way.

September 17, 2026

By RABBI MATTHEW ANISFELD

(JTA) — We live in the age of the strategic apology. A politician apologizes days before an election when an opponent surfaces uncomfortable dirt. A CEO issues a lawyered “I take full responsibility” when a product is...

Jewish worshippers pray, sound shofar on Temple Mount on Rosh Hashanah

September 15, 2026

By JNS STAFF   (JNS.org) – Hundreds of Jewish worshippers visited the Temple Mount early on Sunday morning to recite Jewish prayers, with several individuals sounding shofars on the second day of Rosh Hashanah—the only day the ritual was performed this...

Person in the Parsha: Ha’azinu (Shabbat Shuva)

September 11, 2026

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“REPRESSION OF THE SUBLIME”

It was advertised as one symposium at a major psychology conference. It was to be a discussion about memory and forgetfulness. But it turned out...

9/11 + 25

September 11, 2026

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

The Eve of Rosh Hashanah falling on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America represents a stirring confluence of events. What special meaning should we embrace as we begin the Days...

Psalms in the morgue and scrapped Rosh Hashanah sermons: What rabbis remember about 9/11

September 11, 2026

By GABRIELLE BIRKNER

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — “Today is the birthday of the world. It is also the end of shiva. Sept. 11 + 7.” That’s how Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Connecticut, began...

Person in the Parsha: Rosh Hashanah

September 04, 2026

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“REFLECTIONS ON DIVINE KINGSHIP”

We now enter a period of the year that demands two kinds of spiritual commitment. The first ischaratah, regret: an honest inner search of our...