Ultra-Orthodox Jews gather at the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mount Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021, as they celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer.
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A scholar of Jewish history explains why the annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage to Mount Meron in Israel has such power and meaning.
The harmful belief that Christianity ‘replaced’ Judaism is partly rooted in the erroneous view that
Jesus told his followers that rules regarding ritual purity were outdated.
(Wikimedia)
Easter and Passover begin on the same weekend this year. This is an opportunity to revisit misconceptions about Jesus’s ministry and to address anti-Jewish uses of Christian scripture.
A Jewish family welcomes home their Navy man and gathers for a Passover Seder at their home in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1943.
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A collaboration between advertiser Joseph Jacobs and the famous coffee company produced the classic U.S. haggadah. The book sets out the ceremony for the Seder meal.
Tsvi Reiter, Yvonne Reiter and Hei Le participate in Yvonne’s bat mitzvah ceremony, which was performed over Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Yom HaShoah is a day to commemorate the murder of 6 million Jews – but also their lives. Yizker bikher books lovingly document Jewish communities across Europe.
The number of women religious leaders is growing, but the 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, which surveyed 5,300 U.S. religious communities, found that only 56.4% of these communities would allow a woman to “be head clergy person or primary religious leader.”
AP Photo/Young Kwak
Today most societies take the A.D. time system for granted. That wasn’t always the case.
Lots of families wrestle with how – and whether – to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas.
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Figuring out whether to celebrate holidays, and how, is tricky for lots of interfaith families – but thoughtful communication makes a difference.
Opportunities are expanding for Orthodox Jewish women to formally study Jewish texts. This event in Jerusalem celebrated women who completed the 7 ½-year cycle of daily study of the Talmud.
AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov
A scholar of gender and US religious history explains how women are trying to make religious communities more inclusive. Women’s ordination is only one piece of this ongoing work.
A Jewish woman lights a candle for the festival of Hanukkah at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem.
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The Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which in 2022 begins on the evening of Dec. 18, focuses on the story of the male Maccabees. But women are also heroes in histories from that era, including Judith and Hannah.
In Daniel and Eugene Levy’s new book about their hit TV show ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ the latter writes he hoped the ‘Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose’ episode would reflect his real-life ‘manic insanity about the holiday.’
(CBC Comedy/YouTube)
The ‘Schitt’s Creek’ holiday special, a fan favourite, showed how the omipresence of Christmas has offered (especially intermarried) Jews a variety of non-exclusive options for the holiday season.
For centuries, societies have used visions of the afterlife to discipline people’s behavior.
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Ancient Christian and Jewish texts threatened women with hellfire if they stepped out of line – and those terrifying visions still resonate in U.S. society today.
People protest in Texas after the governor signed a bill to outlaw abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
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‘Heartbeat’ abortion laws like the one enacted in Texas are often based on particular Christian views, but there are many religious perspectives on abortion. What do Jewish texts say?
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women have started telling their own stories via social media, challenging television’s sometimes one-sided depictions of their lives.
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Most religions have periods of rest incorporated into their practice. Medical science has affirmed that short periods of contemplation can have benefits for one’s physical and mental health.
Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (L) and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (R).
Hannah McKay/EPA-EFE
The Church of England’s apology for medieval antisemitism is welcome. But there is something missing.
Eugene Levy, who co-created ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ with son Dan Levy, arrives on the red carpet at the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto in 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Critics who ignore or simply miss the Jewishness of the ‘Schitt’s Creek’ characters fail to appreciate this key aspect of the show’s inclusive reach and appeal to diverse viewers.
Without a formal constitution, Israelis disagree on such basic issues as whether Israel is a Jewish state.
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Brendan Szendro, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Governed by a changeable body of ‘basic laws,’ Israel never settled basic questions like the rights of religious minorities. These destabilizing issues will continue to fester under a new government.