Yom Kippur 26 articles

My earliest childhood memory of the synagogue on Yom Kippur was being told to leave. “Go outside now and play,” my parents and grandparents instructed me. “Children aren’t allowed to be...

When I’m on vacation, I do it all the way. Not only does my physical self go off-duty; my mind, too, takes off on a leave of absence I know not...

At the beginning of every New Year, the halacha creates within us a schizophrenia of sorts. On the one hand, we are obliged to treat Rosh Hashana as Yom Tov replete...

Have you ever wondered why Avraham was the first patriarch of the Jewish people? Probably not; the reason is so obvious. We have grown up hearing the stories of the young...

A Meditation on Sin and Repentance At the core of man is duality. Some might suggest contradiction. Regardless of how it is characterized, man’s essential duality creates tension in his life....

The Rema writes that a doubtful sin requires more thorough repentance than a certain one. The reason he gives is that a person tends to be feel less remorse over a...

It’s a scary familiar term – one that we invoke to assess the unexplainable and capture the unimaginable. The phrase? Hester Panim and it means that God hides His face from...

As we get ready for Yom Kippur, I have a question: What is Kol Nidrei all about? Why do we say Kol Nidrei on Yom Kippur? Or, more importantly, why is...

I can tell when the High Holidays are approaching, because I start getting those phone calls – from my family, my friends, my mother’s friends…even strangers! “Can I make the brisket...

On Thursday, October 9th, when the sun sets and the first stars appear in the sky, Yom Kippur 2008/5769 will end. After fasting for over 24 hours and spending a day...