When I was younger and still figuring out what religion meant to me, I went to synagogue most Shabbats. I loved the rhythm of the service, the sense of belonging, the melodies that felt familiar and ...

of Jews who still the universe amaze. This poem was inspired on 10/27/24, a day after we celebrated the festival of Simhat Torah 5785, when we follow our annual conclusion of reading all the parshiot, ...

Simchat Torah. It’s the Jewish holiday that comes after all the important Jewish holidays — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot — this time of year. At the end of one Torah-reading cycle and the ...

The goal: Bring people back into the synagogue after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them home. The plan: Encourage members to read the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The reward: A ...

On the other hand, a number of authorities are of the opinion that one should sit when the Torah is being read. This is because the Torah reading is considered to be a form of Torah study, and one ...

Simchat Torah, Hebrew for “Rejoicing of the Torah” is a Jewish religious holiday that commemorates the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah reading. The Torah is a central part of Judaism and to ...

Before she had language to understand herself as a transgender person, Joy Ladin did not feel represented or at ease in the physical world she inhabited. While reading the Torah as a child, Ladin ...

When Alyza Lewin became a bat mitzvah in 1977, the fact that she had a ritual ceremony at all was still relatively revolutionary in Orthodox circles. But she took the rite of passage a step further, ...

(RNS) — A few years ago, the Conservative congregation of 900 families overlooking Lake Michigan took on a challenge. This past year 210 laypeople stepped up. HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (RNS) — Growing up in ...

North Suburban Beth El’s Team Torah program recruited their 200th Torah reader this past summer. While most new readers are presented with a cookie at the bimah upon their first reading, the 200th ...