Judaism

Torah

Blessing the People With Love and Joy

Local

Does Birthright Stifle Teen Travel?

Shavuot

Synagogues Celebrate New Arrivals

Passover

The Women Behind the Exodus Story

By:

Dasee Berkowitz, JTA

What woman has changed your life? My toddler intuited his answer when he said to me, "Thank you, ima , for making me." That's right, folks -- mothers, hands down, have probably had the single biggest impact on our lives. Giving birth to children is probably one of the most courageous -- not to mention painful -- things that women...

Torah

Transforming Houses Into Safe, Holy Spaces

METZORA, Leviticus 14:1-15:33

By:

Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell

Each of us remembers the houses and the neighborhoods in which we spent our childhoods. We learned where we were welcome to go trick or treating on Halloween, and which families greeted us warmly when, each spring, we walked from door to door taking orders for Girl Scout cookies. On my street, there was one house we always avoided, crossing...

Local

Orthodox Congregations Seek to Attract Families

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Two Philadelphia-area Orthodox congregations are hoping to entice young, observant families to relocate from the New York metropolitan region and help grow their respective communities. Congregation Beth Hamedrosh in Wynnewood and Congregation Sons of Israel in Cherry Hill, N.J., each sent a delegation to the March 27 "Emerging Jewish Communities Home and Job Relocation Fair" at the Grand Hyatt hotel...

Passover

As Passover Approaches, Getting Your House in Order

By:

Deborah Hirsch

At Emily Coplon's home, Passover cleaning started in mid-March. With five children and upwards of 25 guests at each seder, Coplon said, it's a challenge to make sure the holiday doesn't feel more like a stressor than a simcha. While getting organized is a year-round task, the topic is especially prescient with spring cleaning and Passover fast approaching. For some...

Passover

A Few New Melodies for This Year's Seders

By:

Dr. Marsha B. Edelman

Across the centuries, as Jewish families gathered to celebrate Passover, their observances were accompanied by songs of the season. As the rituals evolved, so did the variety of melodies used to sing the texts of the Haggadah. In communities around the world, the music of Passover quickly took on the individual sounds of the local majority culture. Passover songs have...