Author: JA Mag

Almost two years after October 7, these women are continuing to raise their voices—writing, speaking, standing strong and making sure the world listens. 

The Eternal Conversation By Rabbi Jonathan Sacks 

A Senator Remembers Joe Lieberman, Seeing Mezuzot Everywhere You Go, What Not-Yet-Religious Jews Really Want, A Key Ingredient to Success in Outreach, Avoiding Mixed Messages, Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet’s Teaching Career, Debating the Rav’s Position, Rabbi Rakeffet Responds, A Plea for Healthier Kosher Options, OU Kosher Responds

The study aims to develop a more robust and wide-ranging understanding of the different ways and reasons people leave Orthodoxy.

What the study reveals about relationships with religious figures

. . . the experience of leaving [the community] is not binary. Very often, connections remain that are real, important and personal and shape people’s lives.

Marking New Chapter of Growth and Expansion 

Dangerous onions, “kosher” gelatin, and more!

Megillat Ruth Mesorat HaRav—Wintman Family Edition 

A Tragic Rift, More than Doorways, One Shul Fits All?, Moving a Sefer Torah, What about the Matzah? 

Put your dried fruit knowledge to the test!

In the wake of October 7, thousands of American Jews, once disconnected from their heritage, are now embracing their roots. What more can we do to welcome these newly awakened Jews into our community? In the symposium ahead, we feature responses from leading rabbis, rebbetzins and outreach professionals along with showcasing innovative programs in the world of outreach.

So what is the unchanging definition of success in Jewish outreach?

We are not whole without all of our sisters and brothers. This is not a project. This is not a numbers game. This is a family reunion. We miss you; viscerally so.

No judgment, just ahavas Yisrael. That’s the motto of Project Inspire, a national organization that aims to provide positive Jewish experiences for Jews of all backgrounds.

An excerpt from Bein Sheishes Le’Asor by Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe; translation by Rabbi Eliyahu Krakowski.

If you see someone drowning, you are halachically obligated to save him. Similarly, if you see someone drowning spiritually, you must save him. 

We have to realize: These Jews are not going to an Orthodox shul. They’re not coming through the shul doors. We need to be building better doorways for engagement. 

Ote LaParasha by Rabbanit Atira Ote 

A Touching Tribute, Shining a Light on Widowhood, Jewish Unity, My Jewish Self at Work, Affected by War



In commemoration of the first anniversary of October 7, we asked readers to tell us how they were impacted by a day that will live on forever in our hearts and souls.

These days, instead of strengthening Torah learning and observance, rabbis need to spend much time and effort on security matters. Can we draw any chizuk from the current situation?

Rabbis of the IDF, Feedback from a Miluima, Modesty and Marketing, Recognizing Your Value, Reciting Kaddish for Soldiers

Can you pronounce “Worcestershire sauce”—and why is it labeled OU-Fish anyway?

The following essay is excerpted from “Festivals of Faith: Reflections on the Jewish Holidays” by Rabbi Norman Lamm, edited by Dr. David Shatz and Rabbi Simon Posner (OU Press/Ktav, 2011). This sermon was delivered by Rabbi Lamm in 1961.

  While hiking in the fall of 2008, a member of Temple Beth Jacob, a Reform synagogue in Newburgh, New York, discovered several headstones with Hebrew inscriptions on a steep, thickly wooded hillside. It turned out that the Jewish cemetery, in desperate need of repair, belonged to the Temple. The Temple’s youth group did an […]

I No Longer Believe By Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman I have never recovered from that traumatic day, Simchat Torah in Israel—October 7, 2023. That day that will haunt me for the rest of my life. My great-great-great-great grandfather, Rav Avraham Shlomo Zalman Zoref, zt”l (1786–1851), is the first name listed on the Wall of Remembrance […]

Jews have lived in what are now Arab countries for more than three thousand years, long before the Arab conquests that began in the seventh century. In 1948, there were more than 870,000 Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa. By 1958, ninety-seven percent of all Jews in Arab countries had emigrated due […]

Seeking halachic guidance in a time of war