This year, the Muslim holiday of Ramadan began on the first night of Rosh Hashana.
The Detroit News reported how Jews and Muslims in the Detroit area are using this rare occurrence to build bridges between their communities.

Read the attached report of a Muslim-Jewish Friday night dinner hosted by members of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah.

Caught Dovening

Growing up in a non-Jewish area was always awkward around holidays. These were not days of reflection and celebration that they were meant to be, but instead, holidays were a time when I was elected by my non-Jewish peers as the resident rabbi. As one of the few Jewish kids in my high school of 2,200 students, my non-Jewish peers were a pretty large demographic, and like me, knew next to nothing about Jewish culture, religion, and history.  read more »

Since I was a “graduate” of Judaism, having been Bar-Mitzvahed, I did know more than most, but ‘most’ was a high school filled with kids whose reaction to my Jewishness was, “Oh, so you don’t celebrate Christmas?” In this question lay the core of what a Jewish kid was to most other kids in a non-Jewish area—that poor soul, who, running down to the menorah on Christmas morning, finds nothing but coal.

Rabbi Shai Gluskin blows the shofar in Elul, 5767 in advance of the New Year of 5768.

The sounds are: 1 Tekiah, Shevarim, three mournful tones, Teruah 9 staccato notes, and finally one Tekiah. Each of the four (Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, and Tekiah) should consist of one "measure" taking up the same amount of time.

Video taken by Joe Getzoff.

There is a gaping hole
in the body of the Jewish people

about fifty years old
and slowly healing

Some try to cover it with bandages
but the wound needs to breathe

Some try to fill it with Land
but I’m afraid it will get infected

Doctors estimate that within one hundred years
scar tissue will begin to form

There is a gaping hole
in the soul of the Jewish people

Some try to fill it with words

Peach from Australia at Tu Bishvat Time: from my garden in Adelaide[Check out Rabbi Kaminsky's blog. Ed.]

It’s Sunday morning here in Adelaide; at 11:45 a.m. it’s already 102 degrees. Heat is expected to break tomorrow night, and we’re anticipating that with great eagerness.  read more »

A visitor to our congregation several months ago wanted to know if people in the Southern Hemisphere reschedule Jewish holidays for six months later than the Northern Hemisphere. It’s true that it’s been an adjustment to think of the High Holy Days as falling in the spring, and to attempt to reimagine Pesach as a fall holiday.

Please explore these resources for Hanukkah from our online resources library.