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On Rosh Hashanah, it is a mitzvah to hear the blowing of the shofar. To fulfill the mitzvah, one must truly hear the shofar. An echo doesn’t count, and neither does a recording. It is a climactic moment in the cycle of the Jewish year. But

Before there was a set calendar for the Jewish year, the beginning of a new month would be declared by the Jewish court when the new moon emerged in the sky. To let the people know, fires would be set on hilltops.   Today, as in

Co-authors of The Button Box , Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams, discuss their hopes for their new middle-grade novel about cousins, one Jewish and one Muslim, who travel back in time to ancient Morocco.  Where did you get the

It is said that in every generation we are meant to see   ourselves as if we had personally experienced the Exodus from Egypt. The themes of Passover are timeless and universal: freedom, hope, and renewal. In different

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a civil rights activist as well as a rabbi. When he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama, Heschel famously said, “I felt my legs were praying.”  When Carter G. Woodson planted

A pot of soup or stew simmering on the stove can make the whole house feel cozy on a cold winter day, which explains why January is National Soup Month. In 1765, a French entrepreneur named Boulanger opened the first modern restaurant.

We need trees. They take our carbon dioxide and give us back fresh oxygen to breathe. The tree is a symbol of the continuity of life. Many people plant a tree to celebrate a new life or to commemorate one that has passed. We talked about our

Gloria Steinem once said that “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Well, sometimes a woman just needs a bicycle. According to the legendary Susan B. Anthony, the bicycle did more to emancipate women than “anything else in the