Around sundown on March 13, Rabbi Daniel Stein of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek gathered with his family and about two dozen congregants to welcome in Shabbat, lighting candles and singing a couple of songs. They “gathered” not in their synagogue or in someone’s home, but virtually, through the online conferencing platform Zoom. They…
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Jew in the Pew
Passover
New haggadahs: nationalism, artistry, the environment and more
The Passover seder is the most widely observed Jewish ritual, by Jews and non-Jews alike. That fact alone makes the haggadah, the guidebook to the seder,…
Purim
Chabad edition offers mystical insights into Book of Esther
For the Jew who takes Purim text study as seriously as Purim drinking, there’s a new commentary on the Book of Esther (aka the Megillah) from Rabbi Yossi…
Film
A master of synagogue music finds his style and career fading
Cantor Jack Mendelson’s style — the operatic hazzanut (classical European Jewish liturgical music), which enjoyed a golden age in early and mid-20th…
Jew in the Pew
Is it permitted to punch a Nazi? Consult the internet Talmud.
In the midst of President Donald Trump’s inauguration three years ago, well-groomed white supremacist spokesman and coiner of the term “alt-right” Richard…
Hanukkah
3 Hanukkah gifts for the liturgy lover in your life
For some people on your holiday shopping list, a standard gift just won’t do it. I’m talking about the erudite, shul-going Jew with shelves of Judaica and…
Jew in the Pew
Getting drunk on Jewish texts and arts
My dad sat to my left. Next to him was the charismatic, theatrical Bruce Bierman, whom I last encountered when he was leading a deliciously off-the-wall…
Jew in the Pew
I was in a strange, new world: Egalitarian Sephardi Shabbat
An egalitarian Sephardi service is a rare thing, a complete novelty to me when I dropped in on the first installment of Congregation Zohar Yisrael, a new…
Jew in the Pew
Tashlich in spaaaaaaaacce!
They call it Tashlich in Space. The website puts it succinctly: “Reflect. Renew. Blastoff.” That’s right, this year you can (belatedly) send your sins up…