Prayer
Who Goes to Shul?
Pin It After World War II, new synagogues opened all over the United States. Jews had started to move to suburbia and away from New York. Wherever they went, they... Read More »
Annie Get Your Gun… and Your Havdalah Candle
Pin It Your local Jewish Community Center is likely somewhat of a melting pot of the Jewish community spectrum in your area and, if it offers the right services, even... Read More »
No Shul for Me
Pin It Erev Yom Kippur is meant to be a day that culminates the spiritual preparations of the past 8 days – one where we really psych ourselves up for... Read More »
The Other Leather Bondage
Pin It I, once again, feel I may be going into territory not as family friendly as this site is intended. If your sensibilities are easily offended (or if you... Read More »
Davening Man Removed from Plane
Pin It On Wednesday night, an Orthodox man boarded a United Airlines flight from JFK to San Francisco. Before the flight took off, he went to the back of plane... Read More »
The New Month of Adar
Pin It The new month of Adar has just begun and we are reminded by the rabbis that this is a time for rejoicing. As we prepare to celebrate this... Read More »
Deep Thinking: Where is G-D?
Pin It Do you ever wonder why we need a Synagogue or a Temple to serve G-d? I mean, He’s everywhere, why focus our service of Him on a building?... Read More »
Sing-a-long with Bob Dylan and other Reform Prayer Services
Pin It A couple of weeks ago, my elderly parents (both in their upper eighties) went to their Reform temple (they do not call it a synagogue) for Friday evening... Read More »
Broader Judaism in Preparation for Martin Luther King Day II
Pin It Rabbi Capers Funnye leads his congregation at Beth Shalom Bnai Zaken in Chicago, Il, where his synagogue has been in existence since 1918. Except for a few members,... Read More »
In a Den of Thieves, Looking for Answers
Pin It As the final hours before the opening of the “holiest day of the year” are upon us, I wonder the same thing I always do. Who the hell... Read More »
Mikvah Tactics for the Nervous Bather
Pin It I have noticed in the last few years that more and more people seem to be going to the mikvah on the days before Rosh Hashana and Yom... Read More »
Kinos Teshuva
Pin It The time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (this week) is a time of intense prayer (tefilla) and repentance (teshuva) Read More »
The Many Sounds of the Shofar
Pin It As I was standing in shul one Elul morning, I heard the powerful sounds of a shofar blown with considerable demonstration of skill and not a little flair.... Read More »
