For me, fall is the time to think of creative, eclectic dishes, since local summer produce is no longer at its best. The recipes below are some of my fall favorites. Split Pea Soup 8 servings This recipe is easy to make and wonderfully convenient to have on hand. It freezes well. 2 tablespoons olive […]

Chag HaSukkot is unquestionably one of our most enjoyable holidays. Preparation, however, is something else.

If you don’t already own a shofar, it’s better to first learn how to blow on a borrowed shofar before buying one. When you do go to the store, you need to find a shofar that is right for you personally. For reasons that are purely commercial, the longer the shofar, the more it costs. […]

“It Shall Be a Day of Sounding the Shofar for You” (Bemidbar 29:1) Most of us fulfill the mitzvah of tekiat shofar by passively listening to the ba’al tekiah. But is listening to the shofar really as passive as it seems? During this sacred, spiritual experience, as we stand there listening attentively, the shofar sounds […]

I often hear people talk about the awakening power of the sound of the shofar—how awesome a moment, how inspiring an experience it is for them. From the perspective of one who blows the shofar, the ba’al tekiah, it is even more than that. No other mitzvah resembles it in the way it is carried […]

Nine years ago, Jewish Action published a fierce debate on the validity of the Torah Codes. Emotions ran high as the debate touched a raw nerve for many, though not always for the same reason. Although things have quieted down since then, the issue is far from resolved, and indeed, codes research is continuing unabated. […]

My son, Shmuel, was born four years ago on the tenth of Cheshvan. My wife woke me at 3 A.M.; we were at the hospital a bit after 3:30. Not her first delivery, the labor was quick: by 5:45, she gave birth. So efficient she was, I thought, that there would be time to make […]

Why do so many people seem to feel that davening begins somewhere around Barchu and actually being on time for it is the domain of insomniacs and Kaddish-sayers? Why do educators wring their hands in despair about the low level of inspiration and kavanah that so many students attach to prayer? These are just a […]

  Some years ago, I attended services in a large, impressive-looking synagogue in a New York suburb. But while the actual building was quite magnificent, the congregants’ decorum was appalling. During davening, people were conversing fairly loudly with their neighbors, with apparently no consideration for those who had, in fact, come to shul to pray. […]

“So, when are you hannouncing?” he asked me. I loved talking with—and listening to—Rabbi Kret. There were superficial reasons for this: As a wheelchair user accustomed to speaking to people’s stomachs, I found it a pleasure to converse with Rabbi Jacob Kret, who measured little over five feet tall. Talking with him meant never having […]

Over a decade ago, Shraga Rosenberg, a longtime resident of Efrat, had a dream. He envisioned the Biblical blessing Yaakov promised to his son Yehudah being fulfilled once again in Judea, the area inherited by the Tribe of Yehudah more than 3,000 years ago. In that blessing, the imagery of wine figures prominently. “Binding unto […]

Three years ago, we sent a survey to our shul members asking what they thought was the most pressing challenge facing our congregation. The overwhelming response: the incessant talking during davening. In fact, some of the members of the Young Israel of Woodmere had actually left the shul and others had taken their personal semachot […]

Misconception: A feature of the Rosh Hashanah tashlich ritual is the throwing of bread or other food into a body of water, to be eaten by the fish and ducks.1 Fact: For the performance of tashlich, a custom which is symbolic of numerous things, it is customary to seek out a body of water that […]

The mountainous back road leading to the sheep ranch of Sara and Ted Yazzie on Navajo tribal land near Chinle, Arizona, was not much more than a wide dirt path. I glanced up at the cloudless morning sky; the deep blue brought to mind the techeilet. What would my composition students at Yeshiva University think […]

Years ago, a prominent London rabbi visited the town where I was learning. I called upon him at the home of his mother, the widow of a world-renowned rosh yeshivah. During the conversation, the rebbetzin asked her son if I was “normal.” When she seemed satisfied with her son’s response (apparently I qualified, but only […]