Religion

KSDS and Cardinal Shehan School Come Together for Special Concert

by Linda L. Esterson | Jan 18, 2019 | Bar Mitzvah, Children, Community, Community Resources, Education, Family, Milestones, Religion, Schools

Harrison Fribush has the music in him, and he wants to share that passion with other kids throughout the Baltimore area. A seventh grade student at Krieger Schechter Day School, Harrison has embarked on a bar mitzvah project unlike that of most of his peers. On Jan....

Jews of Color on What Martin Luther King Jr. Day Means to Them in 2019

by JTA | Jan 18, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Religion

By Josefin Dolsten and Ben Sales (JTA) — For many Jewish organizations, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to talk about the current state of black-Jewish relations. There’s a lot to talk about this year, from the controversy over ties between Women’s March...

300 Women Join Rabbi Naomi Levy for an Evening of ‘Wine & Wisdom’ at The Soul Center

by Amanda Krotki | Jan 18, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Religion, Spirituality

It’s been a long week, you’re still sore from that cardio workout two days ago, there’s fluffy white stuff falling from the sky and all you want to do is go home and eat leftover cheese. You think to yourself, “Do I really need to go out to one more event this week?”...

ArtScroll Prayer Books Have Dominated in Orthodox Synagogues for Decades. Is that Ending?

by Ben Sales, JTA | Jan 16, 2019 | Community, Education, Religion

NEW YORK (JTA) — For decades, one name dominated the bookshelves and pews of American Orthodox synagogues: ArtScroll. The Brooklyn-based publisher of Jewish books put out the most widely used Orthodox prayer book, or siddur, as well as a popular text and translation...

Talmud-Inspired Learning Craze Sweeps South Korea

by Tim Alper | Jan 14, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Religion

SEOUL, South Korea (JTA) — In 2014, Kim Hye-kyung found herself staring into an educational abyss. The mother of two lives in study-mad South Korea, a nation where parents fork over a combined $17 billion on private tutoring every year. Children start early – 83...

Outside Amsterdam’s Portuguese Synagogue, Spanish Olive Trees Endure Northern Winters

by Cnaan Liphshiz | Dec 30, 2018 | Community, Community Resources, Religion, Spirituality

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Each year at the height of winter, city workers descend on the square opposite Holland’s oldest synagogue and pull gigantic yellow tarps over the canopies of 25 olive trees. The trees, each 250-300 years old, are Amsterdam’s oldest. They were brought...

A Powerful Leap of Faith

by Rabbi Ariana Katz | Dec 28, 2018 | Community, Community Resources, Religion, Spirituality

An oft-read poem at our Hinenu services, “Litany for Survival,” by the late poet, teacher, librarian and activist Audre Lorde, ends with the following couplets: And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise...

Baltimore’s Legacy Synagogues with City Roots Should Engage their Neighborhoods of Origins

by Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg | Dec 12, 2018 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Religion, Spirituality

Politicians, musicians, comedians and others often ask, “Will it play in Peoria?” At Beth Am Synagogue, we frequently ask ourselves something like, “Will it resonate in Reservoir Hill?” Attention to the surrounding community is central to the “New Jewish Neighborhood”...

At a New Yeshiva, Students will Pray, Study Jewish Text — and Practice Yoga

by Ben Sales, JTA | Dec 7, 2018 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Religion

NEW YORK (JTA) — Most Jewish religious schools begin the day with a traditional morning prayer. After that, students spend much of their time studying Talmud, the central text of Jewish law. But at Romemu Yeshiva, set to open next year, students could begin the day...

Lutherville Synagogue and Church Celebrate their Common Ground

by Jonathan Shorr | Dec 6, 2018 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Family, Religion, Spirituality

“How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” (Psalm 133) On a quiet Sunday morning last May, Lutherville’s Church of the Holy Comforter held a worship service at which the congregation’s rector, the Rev. Chris Tang, baptized a baby girl whose...