Monthly Essay ·
Fear and Joy in Sepharad and Ashkenaz
By Rabbi Meir SoloveichikWhat happens when an Ashkenazi rabbi leads a Sephardi synagogue during the Days of Awe? A profound encounter with new moods in Jewish life.
High Holidays
Latest Mosaic Content for High Holidays
Observation ·
The Mystery Tucked Inside a Powerful High Holy Day Prayer
By PhilologosApart from Kol Nidrei, no High Holy Day prayer is better known than Un’taneh Tokef. But there's a puzzle at its heart.
Observation ·
Does Day Follow Night, or Night Follow Day?
By PhilologosGod’s first creative proclamation was “Let there be light,” so it might seem that the day came first. But then why does the Bible say that "it was evening and it was morning?"
Observation ·
Jewish Holiday Greetings Don’t Make Much Sense
By PhilologosOn the overuse of ḥag same’aḥ and the redundancy of gut yuntif.
Response ·
American Jews: Doomed to a Thin Culture with No Future?
By Jack WertheimerTo avoid that fate, rabbis and synagogues might begin by acknowledging where and how Judaism differs, and proceed from there.
Response ·
The Price of Modernizing the High Holy Days
By Christine RosenSynagogues may no longer be stuffy and hidebound, but contemporary changes utterly transform for the worse the powerful experience of the Days of Awe.
Response ·
Jack Wertheimer’s Critique of American Synagogues is On-Target—and Woefully Off
By Elliot CosgroveToday’s liberal Judaism may or may not have struck the right balance between tradition and change; but that's a conversation worth having.
Response ·
What’s Wrong with Nostalgia for Judaism’s “Millennia-Long Tradition”
By Lawrence A. HoffmanUnless they feel personally welcome, non-traditional Jews won't care to own anything at all of the tradition.
Observation ·
Where Do the Names of the Shofar Calls Come From?
By PhilologosAt least one of them might stem from the days when Jews ululated.
Monthly Essay ·
The New High Holy Days
By Jack WertheimerWhat happens when, once a year, the urge to accommodate every consumer fashion meets massive Jewish cultural illiteracy?
Observation ·
What’s a Kvitl, and Why Wish Anyone a Good One?
By Philologos“A gut kvitl!” East European Jews once said to each other in the days just before and during the holiday of Sukkot, and many still do. What does it mean?
Observation ·
The Personal Prayer at the Heart of the High Holy Days
By Atar Hadari“Here am I, poor in deeds," it begins. Where did it come from and, more importantly, what does it say to us?
Observation ·
Guilty, Guilty, Guilty
By Atar HadariWhy should we confess, particularly on Yom Kippur? Why in public? And why so many times?
Observation ·
Remembrance of Trumpets Past
By Nathan LauferRosh Hashanah as described in the Torah looks very different from the Rosh Hashanah we know today. What happened, and what exactly are we celebrating?
