Monday, December 8th 2025   |

Yom Kippur

Person in the Parsha: KI TAVO (YOM KIPPUR)

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS

It was the kind of thing you would hear from old men. “Things just ain’t the way they used to be.” “This new generation is going to hell...

Kapparot ritual allowed in New York

(JTA) — The Yom Kippur ritual of kapparot can proceed in New York, a state Supreme Court judge ruled.

Justice Debra James ruled Monday in Manhattan that there was not enough evidence to prove that the ritual is a public...

‘Sorry’ is not enough

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF

Christianity and Judaism have many customs and symbolism in common. Naturally, as the aphorism states, the child does not stray far from the mother. We both take vows to repair our character....

Why Sandy Koufax sitting out a World Series game still matters 50 years later

By HILLEL KUTTLER

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Jesse Agler was pretty talented as a catcher and pitcher in Little League, yet his parents benched him regularly.

That’s because the Aglers had a no-baseball-on-Shabbat rule, one cloaked in sports royalty.

“It was...

During days of introspection, how to get back on the proper path

By STEVE BAYAR

(My Jewish Learning via JTA) — We live with a practical tradition. We begin the Jewish New Year with 10 days devoted to introspection. Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we are asked to review our past...

Beyond the bagel: Breaking the fast with flair

By SHANNON SARNA

NEW YORK (JTA) — By the time the fast is over on Yom Kippur, the last thing you want to be doing is patchkeing in the kitchen to prepare lots of food. And as much as I...

What makes a mensch? A ‘digital diva’ wants to know

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — “Our technology has exceeded our humanity,” Albert Einstein allegedly once lamented.

But filmmaker Tiffany Shlain — who utilizes an online, collaborative process and distribution method she dubs “cloud filmmaking” — says it’s possible that technology,...

The Reform movement’s new holiday prayer book is radically inclusive

By GABE FRIEDMAN

(JTA) — When some Reform synagogue-goers open up their prayer books this High Holiday season, they will be greeted with snippets of poems by the likes of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda. Feminist and LGBTQ-friendly terms and...

This Rosh Hashanah, I Challenge You to Focus on the Positives

By NINA BADZIN

(Kveller via JTA) — Two essential parts of preparing for Rosh Hashanah, our clean slate for the year, is asking forgiveness from anyone we wronged and making a list (mental or written) of the ways we fell short since...

Georgia students protest homecoming game on Yom Kippur

(JTA) — An online petition protesting the university of Georgia’s decision to hold its homecoming football game on Yom Kippur has acquired some 2,000 signatures.The petition decrying the scheduling conflict was addressed to the university president.