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“The Narrow Straits of Our Lives”

“How different this night is from all other nights!” The familiar singsong of Mah Nishtanah reverberates in Jewish homes throughout the world on Passover eve. What Seder would be complete without the beloved Four Questions chanted by the young and the young-at-heart? These questions are the literary device that introduces the maggid, the embellished Exodus narrative that is the essence of the Pesah celebration. Put another way, the Passover Seder is the quintessential Jewish storytelling experience.

VIDEO: Message from people of Israel to people of Gaza

We are your neighbors. All we want is a life of peace and prosperity for your children, and ours. Please urge your government to stop their violent actions against us. Show to the world that you are committed to peace and a better life. There is no glory in death; only widows and orphans, blood and tears. For peace is not a dream but can become a reality.

Listening with our ‘third ear’

…I noticed that my hosts were talking about something called the third ear. It sounded like worn-out hippie schmaltz – this notion of tapping into our \”third ear energy\” to bring more harmony into our lives, and to the world.

The ‘Yearning’ for Torah learning goes to TV

\”If we don\’t have something to yearn for, some dents in our life to fix, some messiness, some crucial quality of our life is missing,\” Kula tells the audience. \”Yearning can be a path to blessing.\”

There’s A Message in the Sounds of the Shofar

The New Year is a time at once joyful and solemn for Jews, because it marks a new beginning for each of us. It carries the assurance that we all do get a second chance and urges us to seize hold of it.

Trouble Mars Pope’s Trip to Auschwitz

Eleven years ago, at ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, misunderstandings between Poles and Jews ran so deep that even a rabbi\’s desire to say the Mourner\’s Kaddish reportedly disturbed some Polish politicians

Throw a Party With a Purpose

It\’s not that glitz, glamour and secular themes at b\’nai mitzvah are inherently problematic, like in the soon-to-be-released one-upsmanship film, \”Keeping Up With the Steins,\” but when they\’re inadequately balanced with Jewish values we can be left with an empty shell of a party that undermines the entire point of these meaningful milestones.

The Lost Words

Perhaps what\’s at issue is my own life: I\’m a word person. For more than 20 years I\’ve made my living by writing and editing. Getting the words right is what I labor to achieve, all day every day. It\’s a struggle that often leaves me in despair.

A Surprise Might Attract More To Shuls

If there\’s one thing in marketing that piques interest, it\’s the element of surprise. For synagogues, however, this is easier said than done, because so much of a prayer service is based on repetition. And repetition itself has an emotional benefit: It makes us feel safe and comfortable.

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Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.