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Every Shabbos, Jews in synagogues of all denominations hear the cantor, rabbi or a layperson chant that week’s Torah portion from an open scroll. But Yiddish scholar Sheva Zucker says you don’t need ...

Pirkei Avot 5:1: By ten divine utterances [ma'amarot] was the world created. The expression "utterances/ma'amarot" implies that Hashem made His voice heard. How does ...

Parshat Yitro: Exodus 18:1-20:22; Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6. The verses immediately preceding the Decalogue Revelation at Sinai are curious, to say the least. God and Moses enter a dialogue that appears ...

Blog ties weekly Torah portion with works of Yiddish writers For last week’s portion, the blog matches the story of Jacob’s daughter Dina with a poem about her by the poet Itsik Manger.

Tisya Cooke is a Jewish transgender woman. She’s actively involved in her synagogue and spoke about carving out space for queer people in Judaism. Alphabet Soup shares LGBTQ+ Missourians’ stories ...

No man shall come near to any of his close relatives, to uncover [their] nakedness. I am the Lord. ~ Leviticus 18:6 There are plenty of fish in the sea but not all of them are available to you. Not ...

Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area. In the two most recent parashahs, we’ve read about leprosy — or some leprosy ...

Yom Kippur is quite properly viewed as a somber day of introspection. The Torah reinforces this perspective when declaring that on the Day of Atonement, we are to “afflict [te’anu] our souls” ...

This week, our Jewish calendar presents us with another “doubleheader” in the cycle of the Torah. Last week, we also witnessed a pairing of two portions. There are seven occasions, depending on how ...