Judaism

Hurt people hurt people: Isaac teaches us how to break the cycle - opinion

Isaac teaches us that we cannot always control what happens to us, but we can decide what we do with that pain. We can pass it on to others, or we can transform it into something positive.

US Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed waves on stage, with vote counting continuing for Michigan's Democratic US Senate primary, in Detroit, Michigan, US, August 5, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Likud supporters in Jerusalem after Tuesday's exit polls showed the Likud remaining as the largest party.

Netanyahu, do what Moses did: Step aside for the nation - opinion

US Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduces US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a field office for Schultz in Davie, Florida, US, August 9, 2016.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s faith in the Democratic Party - opinion

Bar Kuperstein leading the HaGomel blessing.

Beyond the headlines: Reunited in gratitude


An American perspective: Why Yom Kippur still brings Jews together, even without belief - opinion

We are made viscerally aware of the value of time, of a moment, of a day. And so it is with Yom Kippur, the Day.

People form a circle and walk on the empty streets in Tel Aviv, on the eve of Yom Kippur, September 24, 2023

Yom Kippur 2026: Does a text message or social media post count as a real apology?

As digital communication makes it easier to avoid difficult conversations, rabbis and educators weigh whether texts, voice notes, and social-media posts can deliver meaningful apologies.

An Israeli soldier holds a smartphone near Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel, November 23, 2023

The surprising history of Kol Nidre: How Yom Kippur’s legal formula became a sacred anthem

Beyond its connection to Yom Kippur’s theme of repentance, experts believe the answer lies in Kol Nidre's core musical architecture. 

(L-R): Photo of Maurycy Gottlieb’s “Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur”; One of the earliest surviving illuminated medieval texts of Kol Nidre (Worms Machzor, c. 1280).

Yom Kippur through the centuries: The prayer books that preserve centuries of Jewish history

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, NLI’s curator Dr. Chaim Neria explains how the NLI came to house thousands of prayer books, noting that “it fits into the overall mission of the library.”

Dr. Chaim Meir Neria, curator of the Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection at the National Library of Israel, with one of the two volumes of the Lisbon Mahzor recently received by the Library.

Yom Kippur 2026: The Jewish people are chosen - but not because they are better - opinion

As we recite Ata Behartanu many times during the High Holy Days, let us remember that we were chosen out of God’s love, not because of our own special characteristics.

Jews praying for forgiveness (selichot), at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the eve of Yom Kippur, October 1, 2025

Israel tore itself apart on Yom Kippur - then October 7 reminded us of our collective 'we'

On Yom Kippur of 2023, Jews were pitted against Jews across the country. Thirteen days later, October 7 would remind Israelis that beneath their deepest divisions, there was still a collective “we.”

The Orthodox Jewish group of Rosh Yehudi sets up a gender partition during a public prayer for Yom Kippur, on Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, September 24, 2023

A modern-day encounter with Jonah’s ‘leviathan’

Every Rosh Hodesh, and every holiday, when we recite the Barchi Nafshi, I have a different kavanah, a different intention, than I once did. I now know what a “leviathan” looks like.

SWIMMING ABOVE the baby whale that came to play with us.

The other confession: Yom Kippur as the night journey of the soul

Few images capture Yom Kippur more powerfully than a person bent over a machzor (prayer book), quietly reciting its catalogue of sins.

IN THE early morning before Yom Kippur, 2024, prayers for forgiveness are recited at the Western Wall and elsewhere in the Jewish world.

Shabbat candle lighting times for Israel and US

See Shabbat candle lighting times for your area.

Shabbat candles

'Go, eat with joy': The surprising truth about Yom Kippur

How is it that precisely on the eve of the day when a person stands before his Creator, and his judgment for the coming year is sealed, we are commanded to eat and rejoice?

One might think this should be the moment of our greatest anxiety.