Let there be light
The disturbing recent news about the bloody protests in the Arab world incited by a video defaming the Prophet Muhammad remind me of a story associated with Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Sunday at sundown. When Rosh Hashanah begins, the Jewish calendar will enter the year 5773. According to the tradition, exactly 5773 years ago, [...]
Becoming Our True Selves: A Rosh HaShannah Reflection
How do we spiritually prepare for the High Holidays during the busiest time of the year?
Reflections on Elul and Rosh Hashanah
We are nearly halfway through the month of Elul, the final month of the Jewish year. With Elul’s arrival, we usher in a period of personal introspection, repentance and spiritual renewal, which takes us through the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Judaism’s holiest day. [...]
“OMG Judaism Can Be So Awkward!”
The season of one-night stands with Judaism draws nigh. Next month, countless Jews will go to synagogues for the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and then take a respite from Judaism until it’s time to light Hanukkah candles or enjoy a Passover seder. Someone: “I went out with your friend Judaism.” Me: [...]
Assert Your Authority
If on Rosh HaShanah we gain a picture of what can happen when we submit blindly to authority, Yom Kippur is our opportunity to choose another path.
Some Thoughts As We Approach Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur is one of the most widely observed of Jewish holidays, marked by a solemn, 25-hour fast and abstinence from wearing leather shoes, bathing, using perfumes or cosmetics and sexual relations. Yom Kippur concludes the Ten Days of Repentance, [...]
Religion, Reality, and Responsibility
Candles glimmer on the table and challah passes from hand to hand, the loaf dwindles and smiles grow, as the year of 5771 fades away and the new year brightens in our midst. I look back on a year that was truly sweet and full of blessing. In a time when so many face uncertainty [...]
Contributing Scholars
Syd ShookSyd Shook is a seminarian, cultural-explorer, ESL instructor and poet. She works and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, David, and Chihuahua, Okie Doke. Follow her Twitter @sydshook.
Eric HendryPhD in Christian Systematic Theology (Duquesne, 2011). Wrote his doctoral dissertation on Contemporary Ecumenical Pneumatology or the study of the person, gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit, across all the major Christian church denominations. Taught in a Catholic seminary for eleven years, and was the first layman appointed to the role of "Director of Formation" - a post that previously had been canonically reserved for ordained clergy - the first such appointment in a Catholic seminary anywhere in the world. Besides his primary teaching interests in systematic theology, he designed a mandatory year-long course in Judeo-Christian spiritual traditions, and has a particular teaching interest in the formative companioning of the Carmelites Juan de la Cruz and Teresa de Avila. Memberships held in the CTS, AAR and CTSA.
Benjamin BarerBenjamin Barer is the Assistant Editor at Large for State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. He has spent his young life studying Judaism and Jewish texts in exclusively Jewish environments. He is looking to take that intimate knowledge of the tradition and share it with wider communities, touching on the pressing issues facing the Jewish world, and the world as a whole. Towards that end, he has started work at Hebrew College as a research assistant splitting time between CIRCLE — the Centre for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education, jointly hosted by Andover Newton Theological School and Hebrew College — and the Centre for Global Judiasm, at Hebrew College. Text study is the epicentre of his connection to Judaism, and he is keenly interested in widening the scope of that passion to include other scriptures. Benjamin blogs regularly at whatibelievein.wordpress.com