By Andrew Marantz, AlterNetPosted on December 12, 2008 As the horrific news from Mumbai poured in -- gunfire in hotels and hospitals, murderers in acid-washed jeans -- I watched the bulletins with something more than chagrin, something closer to indignation, an emotion I was not sure I was entitled ...

Now to the religious stuff and the beliefs I have about everything that is going on. Firstly, I have no idea whether I'm next or not, and whether when I go into work tomorrow I'll be told that I am no longer working there as well. I have to be prepared for this, even though my friend believes they'l...

Yom Kippur involves 26 hours of very intense introspection October 10, 2008 By JUDY MASTERSON JMASTERSON@SCN1.COM GURNEE -- Note to editor: the next time you assign a story on Yom Kippur, do it before Yom Kippur. It is next to impossible to speak to a rabbi on the great Day of Atonement, the holiest...

For Yom Kippur, Mrs. Bluejeans and I went to services at Sherith Israel. (Rosh Hashanah we were at my old shul in the Sunset.) The main sanctuary at Sherith is fabulously gorgeous. Actually, the whole shul is gorgeous. The sanctuary is painted wall to wall with intricate interwoven patterns, banded ...

�ַתָּה בְחַרְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּי�, �ָהַבְתָּ �וֹתָנוּ, וְרָצִיתָ בָּנוּ, וְרוֹמַמְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הַלְש�וֹנוֹת, וְקִדַּש�ְתָּנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ. וְקֵרַבְתָּנו...

Had a bit of an untypical, for my tastes anyhow, Yom Kippur yesterday. Instead of rushing out of work Wednesday to head to Aunt Beatty’s house, where I would spend the solemn holiday atoning for my sins in shul with lots of old people, feeling very lament-ful and miserably starved, I rushed to the...

Oct. 9, 2008 Dear Friends: I am now in the Boston, Massachusetts region for church & street evangelism. All is going well. Last night was the beginning of the rabbinic holiday, Yom Kippur, the "Day Of Atonement." But Judaism has no priesthood and no atonement apart from the sacrifice of the G...

First, the finishing times. We finished at night at 8:45 pm, Mussaf was over at 2:00. Grand Finale over at 7:10pm. What time did y'all finish? For a couple of years, I was the Somech, otherwise known as an assistant cantor, at the Achi Ezer Torah Center on Yom Kippur. Then I didn't pray there for 2 ...

A few of the Jew-blogs I read have posted requests for forgiveness in advance of Yom Kippur. I’m all in favor of creating awareness about this tradition, but to be honest, if I was truly wronged and someone tried to apologize to me via blog post (or SMS, or Facebook, etc.) I’d be pretty ...

As today is Yom Kippur, it's a good time to say sorry. I can probably fill a whole book with all my mistakes, but instead, 4 key apologies: I apologize to all the entrepreneurs that got a slow answer, or did not get an answer at all. A fast answer is crucial to entrepreneurs, and we know that. Howev...