תשליך/Tashlich is an expression of repentance, acceptance, and forgiveness for how we mistreated others. But we must also forgive ourselves for the ways we mistreated ourselves. Check out our blessing card, perfect for your Tashlich experience.
Daniel Greyber is rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Durham, NC, author of Faith Unravels: A Rabbi’s Struggle with Grief and God and recently served as Team USA Rabbi at the 19th World Maccabiah Games in Israel. Formerly a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute, faculty member at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles and the Executive Director of Camp Ramah in California, he currently serves on the editorial board of Conservative Judaism.
By Rabbi Sandra Cohen | I believe patience will win out. Hope will win. But…if I, for example, light Shabbat candles four times a year, and God “shows up,” as it were, four times a year… then the odds of us meeting each other are low. But if I invoke God regularly, doing mitzvot, praying, blessing, celebrating and mourning, if I actively remember God, I am more likely to experience God remembering me.
Co-authored with JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates Collaborative | As the new year begins, we are thinking about social connection. Social connection has an incredible impact on our overall health, both as individuals and as a community. Having stable and supportive connections as an individual leads to better physical and mental health outcomes such as longer life, better health and increased ability to cope with stress, anxiety and depression.
Closely following the holiday of Tisha B'Av, we observe Tu B’Av – the day we traditionally celebrate love, marriage and the continuation of life. This pairing of suffering with recovery and resilience is crucial to the survival of the Jewish people, and this cycle can teach us much about how we can cope and persevere in our own lives today. It can also be an opportunity to explore how we can cope and persevere and take care of ourselves when supporting the people we celebrate on Tu B'Av becomes too much for us.
Rabbi Melanie Levav from the Shomer Collective and our partners explore the connections between modern communal tragedies and communal mourning tied to Tisha B’Av. We also are joined by Rabbi Amy Bardack, a Jewish communal leader in Pittsburgh, who helped to support the community in the immediate aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
It is true that people aren’t always ready to accept help, even when they desperately need it, but that doesn’t mean we need to wait until they hit rock bottom before accepting or seeking help. We can and should intervene before our friends get to that point. But we need to understand how to do it most effectively and sensitively.
This short booklet will lead you to understand the significance and power of teshuvah, and it will provide you a step-by-step method to help to achieve it and to change your life in ways you never thought possible.
By Max Hollander | On Hanukkah, as you light the candles on the hanukkiah, be sure to look inward at the light shining inside of you, and take steps to ensure your inner flame is happy, healthy and bright.
Many don’t realize the Torah contains two versions of the 10 commandments; it’s easy to overlook. By and large, the two versions are essentially the same, and there are no differences between the laws. There are a couple of small differences in the presentation of some laws; these can be easily overlooked. Yet they have tremendous significance, particularly when it comes to understanding a crucial aspect of Shabbat — and rest in general.