TROY–The Chill and Schmooze Lodge, located at Beth Tephilah Synagogue, 82 River St., Troy, has announced a two-part workshop on Sundays, Nov. 17 and Dec. 15, at 1 p.m. entitled “Our Special Connections.” Attendees, who are invited to attend either or both sessions, will have an opportunity to share life lessons of loved ones who have died and review the […]

Congregation Agudat Achim reported to The Jewish World on Oct. 24 that the “Beyond Dispute Class” has changed the dates of its classes.  According to organizers, the Jewish Theological Seminary, developers of the curriculum, have not quite finished creating it, so classes will not start in November. SCHENECTADY– Congregation Agudat Achim’s Adult Education Committee has announced a course to be […]

By Rabbi SHMUEL GOLDIN (JNS) – I can clearly remember the moment when I finally joined the club that I had dreaded joining for years; when I found myself remaining in shul to recite the prayer of Yizkor for the first time. Hesitantly, I waited with trepidation to experience the power of this first Yizkor … only to be sorely let down. “This is […]

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” Based on ancient Jewish Sages, September 17, 2019, https://bit.ly/2npwl9m More on Yom Kippur and other Jewish holidays: http://bit.ly/137Er6J 1. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (October 9, 2019), whose astrological sign is Libra (♎), which symbolizes the key themes of Yom Kippur: […]

By ARIELLE KAPLAN (Alma via JTA) – Much to my mother’s dismay, I’m not fasting on Yom Kippur and I’m not going to synagogue. Why? Because I don’t believe in God. But despite my lack of faith in a higher being, I take the High Holidays very seriously. For those who need a refresher, here’s a crash course. On Rosh […]

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. […]

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” Based on ancient Jewish Sages, https://bit.ly/2mOFl7g More on Rosh Hashanah and other Jewish holidays: http://bit.ly/137Er6J 1. The conventional meaning of the two Hebrew words Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is: the beginning (Rosh in Hebrew) of the year (Shanah in Hebrew). The evening of September 29, 2019 will launch […]

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” September 5, 2019, https://bit.ly/2lYTD4F The Palestinian leadership is rehashing the notion that Palestine has been Arab/Muslim from time immemorial. But, is such a claim consistent with historic documentation? According to Brown University Prof. David Jacobson, “the Greek Palaistine and the Latin [Rome] Palaestina… appear to refer not to the Land of […]

By DROR EYDAR (Israel Hayom via JNS) – Historical memory is not a matter for annoying arguments about minutiae, it’s an issue of national security. We remember, therefore we are. “By the rivers of Babylon,” a Jewish exile wrote in Psalms after the destruction of the First Temple, “there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalms 137:1). […]

By DEBORAH FINEBLUM (JNS) – Memory and imagination: The two keys that unlock the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av. In fact Tisha B’Av, a holiday many Jews seem unfamiliar with, is all about memory, the collective memory of the Jewish people, as much a family as it is a religion. But to tap into the Jewish collective memory bank, we […]