Jofa Recent Media
Rosh HashanahTishrei
Our Four Sacred New Years
by Nomi Kaltmann Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that takes place each year in Tishrei involves an abundance of ritual and preparation. We blow the shofar; we eat symbolic ...
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Sukkot
Succot and Hakhel: The Point of Re-entry
by Gila Sacks [1] It was an extraordinary moment, and it would have been happening this Succot: At the end of every seven years, after the sabbatical year, on the ...
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Sukkot
On Permanence and Impermanence: Reflections on the Sukkah
By Erin Leib Smokler [1] The holiday of Sukkot is famously one of joy. The Torah exhorts us “וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֖ בְּחַגֶּ֑ךָ,” “You shall rejoice in your festival” (Deuteronomy 16:14). It then ...
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High HolidaysRachel RosenthalShema BekolahYom Kippur
Our Prophets, Ourselves: Jonah, Judgment, and the Act of Repentance
By Rachel Rosenthal[1] If one were to name sympathetic characters in Tanakh, it is unlikely that the prophet Jonah would make the list. If ever there were a model for ...
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PassoverShema BekolahYaffa Epstein
Pesah— Hag HaHinukh: The Holiday of Education
By Yaffa Epstein[1] Jewish tradition has four names for the Passover Holiday—Hag HaAviv (the Spring Festival), Hag HaMatsot (the Holiday of Unleavened Bread), Hag HaPesah (the Holiday of Passing Over), ...
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Gila SacksHanukkahShema Bekolah
Creating Light Each Day
by Gila Sacks[1] “Mai Hannukah?”[2] famously asked the rabbis of the Talmud: “What is Hannukah?” It is the asking of this question, more than its answer, that highlights the complexity—and ...
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High HolidaysShema Bekolah
Change We Can Believe In
by Aliza Sperling[1] The High Holiday period is punctuated with the theme of change. But how many times can we hear about change during the High Holidays without becoming cynical? ...
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agunotDivorcejewish divorceJofa JournalRuth Halperin-Kaddari
SOLUTIONS TO THE AGUNAH PROBLEM: BARRIERS AND BACKLASH
By Ruth Halperin-Kaddari This article comes from a place of frustration and pain. I am afraid I do not bring a message of optimism. On the contrary, my article stems ...
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Sukkot
The Sukkah—A Temporary Fortress
By Mia Diamond Padwa [1] Chag-ha-Sukkot, the holiday of Sukkot, as it appears in the Torah, is grouped with two distinctly different clusters of holidays. On the one hand, it ...
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Idana GoldbergWedding
My Wedding: The Choices I Made
By Idana Goldberg “Ani mekabelet tabaat zu, v’hareini mekudeshet lecha kedat moshe v’Yisrael, I accept this ring and I am thereby sanctified to you according to the laws of Moses ...
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Blu GreenbergMarriage
From Our President Modern Marriage, the Jewish Way
By Blu Greenberg So this is our June bridal issue. And why not, for as Orthodox feminists we have a lot to say about marriage and all that it should ...
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