SCHENECTADY– Congregation Gates of Heaven (CGOH) recently held its 22nd annual mitzvah day. Two hundred members of the congregation volunteered at agencies throughout the area and helped out at the temple.  The day began with a blessing from Rabbi Matt Cutler, followed by a lunch at the temple. After lunch, the volunteer teams headed off to their assigned agencies. Congregants […]

SARATOGA SPRINGS– Congregation Shaara Tfille/The Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs will hold its annual featured author program on Sunday, Nov. 17, and its sisterhood will host its annual Chanukah gift and book fair. Both will be at 84 Weibel Ave.  The book fair will be from 11- 3 p.m. At noon, part-time Saratoga resident and author Prof. Kim van […]

Kristallnacht’s 81st anniversary will be noted in this area with an interfaith commemoration, which will include a showing of the film “The Light of Hope” on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in Page Hall on University at Albany downtown campus, 135 Western Ave., Albany. The commemoration is free and open to the public. “This is the 27th   anniversary […]

ALBANY–The Colonie Chabad Jewish Center will host a communal Shabbat dinner to mark the first anniversary of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in which 11 died (Hebrew date is 18 Cheshvan). A three course dinner will has been announced for  Friday, Nov. 15 at the  Shaker Road-Loudonville Fire House, 550 Albany Shaker Rd, Loudonville. The dinner program begins with Shabbat candle lighting at 4:15 […]

SARATOGA SPRINGS– To commemorate Kristallnacht, Saratoga Chabad has announced a Holocaust lecture on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. at 130 Circular St., Saratoga. Dr. Mark Beiderman, author of Schindler’s Listed: The Search for My Father’s Lost Gold, will share his parents’ Holocaust survivor tales. He will relate his 20-year quest to find gold coins which his father’s family buried […]

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel initiative” Based on ancient Jewish sages, October 10, 2019, https://bit.ly/2OBJ3Nw More on Sukkot and other Jewish holidays: http://bit.ly/137Er6J 1. US-Israel special ties are highlighted by Columbus Day (October 14, 2019), which is always celebrated around Sukkot (October 13-20, 2019). According to “Columbus Then and Now” (Miles Davidson, 1997, p. 268), Columbus […]

BY SHANNON SARNA (The Nosher via JTA)  – Yom Kippur is one of the most important days on the Jewish calendar. For many Jews, fasting and being in synagogue is the focus of the day. Fasting is not easy, nor is it for everyone — some people cannot fast because they are pregnant, breastfeeding or have a medical condition. Or […]

By SHIRA ZEMEL (Kveller via JTA) – Like so many of you, I’m a working person trying to juggle it all — my kid, my job and, you know, my life. For the High Holidays, I was inspired to write a working parents’ version of the Ashamnu, an alphabetic acrostic of our collective transgressions, which is part of the public […]

By Mayim Bialik LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the Reform synagogue I was raised in, they taught us a song around the Jewish New Year: Let’s be friends. Make amends. Now’s the time to say I’m sorry. Let’s be friends. Make amends. Please say you’ll forgive me. For the 10 days of teshuvah, it’s time to make up; time to […]

By JULIE MATLIN MONTREAL (JTA) – Picking through gefilte fish in the kosher department, searching for the freshest packages, I think of my Grandma Fanny. She made her gefilte fish from scratch, lovingly combining the cod, whitefish, pike and whatever other secret ingredients she threw in that made it so good. “This is delicious,” my brother’s roommate remarked one year. […]