Shabbat

Social Media For The Observant Jew

Daniel Vahab | Posted 05.09.2012

Daniel Vahab

On a Friday evening, I tweeted three times and posted three Facebook updates at three separate times -- and I wasn't even online.

WATCH: Table Top Rhythms for Jewish Singing

Joey Weisenberg | Posted 05.03.2012

Joey Weisenberg

In traditional synagogues, many Jews refrain from playing instruments on the Sabbath. I treat this instrumental limitation as an opportunity to creatively explore the musical and spiritual possibilities that exist outside of instruments.

Passover's Freedom Is Control Over Time

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks | Posted 04.14.2012

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Religious ritual is a way of structuring time so that we, not employers, the market or the media, are in control. Life needs its pauses, its chapter breaks, if the soul is to have space to breathe. Otherwise, we may not be in Egypt, but we can still be slaves.

Religious But Not Observant

Noah Baron | Posted 05.31.2012

Noah Baron

The idea that external indicators of faith -- whether that is manifested as wearing a yarmulke or a cross -- are stand-ins for actual religiosity -- that is, the degree of one's faith -- is fraught with problems.

Shabbat HaGadol: Setting The Table For Passover

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer | Posted 05.27.2012

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer

While Jewish law sacralizes food throughout the year, Passover brings eating to a new level of complexity. Sometimes the details threaten to overwhelm and obscure the meaning. Returning to the story of the Exodus helps the message assert itself.

Thou Shall Unplug: A National Day of Tech Detox, Nurturing And Community

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein | Posted 05.21.2012

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein

While Sabbath observance is often dismissed as archaic, attitudes are changing as the pace of information and methods of delivery are unrelenting.

Come For The Kugel

S.R. Hewitt | Posted 04.29.2012

S.R. Hewitt

What is there to love about Shabbat? It's a day to rest? It's a day to sleep? Or perhaps, like thousands of of men and women profess after their first full Shabbat experience, it's the food.

Give Your Brain Some Rest

Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman | Posted 03.31.2012

Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman

Rest and joy are two things that can help us assess our ideas before we try to transform them into reality. And those two aspects are what define one of Judaism's signature contributions to the world -- Shabbat.

From Darkness To Light

Eitan Fishbane, Ph.D. | Posted 02.07.2012

Eitan Fishbane, Ph.D.

Divinity is best characterized as a wondrous light that shines with the mystery of all that was, all that is and all that shall ever be. The eternal. The timeless.

Report: Religion Makes You Fat

David Briggs | Posted 01.10.2012

David Briggs

The multiple health benefits of an active faith life tend to stop at four-course Shabbat meals and church supper tables groaning with fried meat, biscuits and gravy, new research shows

Water on the Omelet -- The Food Stamp Challenge: Day Two

Rabbi Steve Gutow | Posted 01.02.2012

Rabbi Steve Gutow

Eating on a food stamp budget can feel like a form of imprisonment -- being deprived of the basic freedom of choosing the food one could want means that the normal choices afforded Americans of simply buying on a whim are no longer possible.

Thou Shalt Not Use The Computer One Day A Week

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen | Posted 11.24.2011

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen

While the 39 categories tell us what not to do on Shabbat, they also inform us what we should do the other six days of the week. And what is that? Build a dwelling place for God in the world.

Central Park: Social Networking On Shabbat

Ariel Gros-Werter | Posted 11.06.2011

Ariel Gros-Werter

The gathering of troves of young Jews at the Great Lawn of Central Park in Manhattan on Saturday afternoons is in many ways like a non-virtual Facebook, except without alerts of your friends in common.

Hosted Shabbat Dinners: Mingling On A Friday Night

Ariel Gros-Werter | Posted 09.14.2011

Ariel Gros-Werter

Judaism in its nature is a social religion. Inviting people for a large dinner to hang out and meet each other fits what it means to act Jewishly -- to connect with other Jews.

The Jewish Sabbath: An Oasis In Time

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald | Posted 05.25.2011

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald

So what does one do when unplugged? Whatever your religion, faith or practice, there is much to be learned from the notion of a Sabbath or Shabbat.

American Culture Shock: Visiting Israel and Dealing with Shabbat

Ronen Paldi | Posted 05.25.2011

Ronen Paldi

American tourists would be wise to understand that it is still the world's only Jewish country and customs and habits are a little bit different there than in America.

A Call To Our Ancestors: Ariana Delawari's "We Came Home"

Rachel Fleischer | Posted 05.25.2011

Rachel Fleischer

In the chaos of the everyday we sometimes forget to remember the past. Too often we take for granted what we have, forgetting the courageous sacrifices made by those who came before us.

10 Men, 10 Women: The Challenge from Feminist Orthodox Jews

David Suissa | Posted 05.25.2011

David Suissa

One aspect of modernity that has posed a delicate challenge has been the role of women in the synagogue. A few Orthodox thinkers have weighed in, challenging some traditional dogmas.

On Pesach Eve: The Muslim and Her Inner Jew

Qanta Ahmed, MD | Posted 05.25.2011

Qanta Ahmed, MD

This is the prize which each of my Jewish loves - my Jewish teachers, my Rabbi and my Rebbetzin, my Jewish friends, my special Jewish Navigator and every Jewish patient has ultimately taught me: inside every Muslim is an inner Jew.

National Day of Unplugging March 19, Sunset to Sunset March 20 (VIDEO)

Tiffany Shlain | Posted 11.17.2011

Tiffany Shlain

Shabbat is a very old idea -- 5000 years old. And people have been talking about "technology shabbats" for a while ... but perhaps today, we. Really. Need. An. Intervention.

Rabbinical Elevator Ruling Reignites Debate Over Lifts

AP | TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press Writer | Posted 05.25.2011

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Can A Christian Learn from Ramadan?

Yvonne R. Davis | Posted 11.17.2011

Yvonne R. Davis

As a Christian who worships the Shabbat, I believe Ramadan is a wonderful way for Christians to remember their Muslim brothers and sisters

Saving the World in One Day - Shabbat Around the World

James M. Lynch | Posted 11.17.2011

James M. Lynch

How does taking a 25 hour break have anything to do with saving the world? Well for me, it is not only physical and spiritual recharging; it's also emotional and intellectual.

Michael Jackson and 4th of July Priorities of Concern

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater | Posted 05.25.2011

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater

In the same week that hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a travesty of democratic values, Americans took to the streets for the death of a superstar entertainer.

Christopher Hitchens and the Killer Jews

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach | Posted 11.17.2011

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

To read Hitchens these days is to be transported to an alternate universe where religious Jews are often terrorists inspired by racist Jewish ideology that is fomented by their Rabbis.