By Adam Grobman
It wasn’t even Chanukah yet, and the new menorah, placed for the first time in Lancaster’s Penn Square, had already been damaged. Miriam Baumgartner, Board President of the Jewish Community Alliance of Lancaster, was feeling disheartened.
“When I saw the damage, I was…
By Mary Klaus
Many Jews say “Tzom Kal” or “Have an Easy Fast” to each other at the start of Yom Kippur.
Sometimes, that’s easier said than done.
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism, is a day of atonement. Observed ten days after Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur this year…
By Adam Grobman
Each year, the High Holidays mark many Jews return to synagogue after a long absence. This year, that may be true more than usual, with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many worshippers away and some synagogues closed for much of the past year and a half.
The Shabbat that fall…
By Mary Klaus
When Ellis Rosenberg sounds the shofar at Kesher Israel’s Rosh Hashanah services on September 6, he will be focusing on a new beginning.
“The shofar wakes us up figuratively,” said Rosenberg, who has been performing the tradition at Kesher Israel Congregation for forty …
By Adam Grobman
Racism. Anti-Semitism. Xenophobia.
These are a few of the plagues recognized at the Freedom Seder, an annual interfaith Passover program that brings together leaders, activists, and participants from across the community to “celebrate a joint vision for freedom from oppre…
