From birth, to marriage, to death, and beyond, Jewish traditions mark the contours of our lives. If there isn’t a Kaddish, there’s a Kiddush, bat…
The Kinds of Kindness
Sure it’s nice to be nice, but sometimes you need specifics. Rather than relying on vague ethical pronouncements, the Torah gets into the nitty-gritty and…
Pray It Forward
Prayer feels like it should be a genuinely spiritual experience, but the foreign language, the rigid text, and the fixed times for the services can…
A Slice of Life
From baking to breaking to thanking, there is a host of special practices uniquely associated with bread, starting with separating challah—the special mitzvah entrusted to…
Endlessly Blessed
Like some sort of Jewish mantra, berachot are better known as those brief blessings recited over food. As it happens, there are blessings for sighting…
Soul Food
Is there anything more emblematic of religious dogma than keeping kosher? Kashrut determines not only what we eat, but also where and how we travel,…
Unroll the Scroll
A small scroll, wrapped up, placed in a case, and affixed to a door, the mezuzah is so tiny you could miss it if you…