To the Editor: Speaking on behalf of the progressive Democrats who read your paper, I was annoyed to see yet another piece by Jeff Dunetz using Judaism as a justification for a partisan political position [“A Rosh Hashana message to our President,” Sept. 6]. more

Looking back on the 21st century, historians may view the second week of September 2013 as the beginning of the end of the United States as a super power; or at the very least as the week Barack Obama was outmaneuvered by Vladimir Putin and the Russian President became the leader of the Western World. more

“Sukkot is the Jewish calendar’s season of joy. This is true on many levels. Spiritually, we have emerged from Yom Kippur newly unburdened of our sins. Materially, the overflowing granaries attest to a successfully concluded growing season. And nationally, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem brings together all the diverse communities to reaffirm their devotion to One G-d and one destiny. With spirited anticipation, the throngs of Jews proceed to the Beis HaMikdash (Temple), to bask in the aura of the Shechinah (Presence of G-d) that rests at the center of the world.” more

Leviticus 23:40: “On the first day, you must take for yourself a fruit of the citron tree, an unopened palm frond, myrtle branches, and willows [that grow near] the brook. You shall rejoice before G-d for seven days.” more

A number of years ago, I met a fellow with whom I struck up a friendship, over Pesach, and I discovered he was a Holocaust survivor who had been first in the Janowska road camp and later in Auschwitz. Towards the end of the week, I summoned up the nerve to ask him if there was anything in particular that stood out in his mind as the reason he had survived. Without hesitation, he responded: “It was one mitzvah: the Sukkot I spent in Auschwitz.” more

This week, we got our sukkahs out of hiding, bought our lulavim and etrogim and those new Yom Tov fall/winter outfits (clothes that we won’t be able to wear yet, although we’ll certainly spot one or two women suffering through the heat in their suede or fur trimmed suits, all in the name of fashion … come on, you’ve been there once or twice). And then there is the planning for not one, but two, three-day Yomim Tovim. And we will eat, till it’s time to eat again — all six meals, all three days, both Yomim Tovim. more

“Nothing shakes up the kishkas as much as the confessions of Yom Kippur. “So intrinsic are they to Yom Kippur that they are supposed to appear in every service — ten times in all, which is thought to correspond to the ten times the high priest invoked the Tetragrammaton in confessing for himself, his household, and the whole people on Yom Kippur.” So teaches us, Rabbi Reuven Kimmelman in a recent essay entitled, “Confession and Its Discontents” [“Sin and Confession in Judaism” Jewish Lights, 2012]. more

Please forgive my sharing with you a letter I wrote to myself. It was important to write it, following the lesson of the Chasam Sofer (see below), so that the message would come across and not go right out the other ear. Dear Me, In the seventh chapter of the Laws of Teshuvah (Repentance), Maimonides reminds us that even not-so-obvious “sins” require a repentance of some kind. more

Barely minutes after the news broke that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was planning a major effort on Capitol Hill to garner support for the Obama Administration’s plan for a limited military operation against the Syrian regime, the conspiracy theorists were having a field day. more

The question of possible American action in Syria is dividing the country, and reasonable people on all sides of the political spectrum can be found supporting or opposing any action. more