Religion

Communication in the Digital Age Doesn’t Always Inspire ‘Just’ Speech

by Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg | Feb 1, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Religion

The great satirist Tom Lehrer said, “… One problem that recurs more and more frequently these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people to communicate with the people they love. … And the characters in these books and plays and so on, and in real...

African Jewish Communities Get Some Mainstream Recognition After Years on the Margins

by Josefin Dolsten, JTA | Jan 30, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Religion

NEW YORK (JTA) — At a conference here on Jewish life in Africa, Magda Haroun spoke of being only one of a handful of Jews left in Egypt, a country that was once home to a Jewish community of 80,000. Abere Endeshaw Kerehu shared the struggles faced by the approximately...

Kabbalah Finds a Home in Judaism Between the Mystics and Madonna

by Ben Sales, JTA | Jan 29, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Religion, Spirituality

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Jews recite a core hymn welcoming the Sabbath on Friday night, they’re also singing about the holiness of sex. That was part of the message delivered by Reuven Kimelman, a Jewish studies professor, at a conference Jan. 27 on Kabbalah, the Jewish...

‘Women’s Night Out’ to Explore Wellness, Fun and Fellowship

by Aliza Friedlander | Jan 29, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Education, Family, Religion, Spirituality

Nisa Felps describes herself as a “spiritual entrepreneur” who enjoys bringing together Jewish women of all backgrounds for such gatherings as the Shabbat Project and the Pink Challah Bake. Now, Felps, a Northwest Baltimore resident, is working on a project of a...

The Three M’s of Visiting the Sick

by Rabbi Eli Yoggev | Jan 28, 2019 | Community, Elderly, Religion, Spirituality

Sniffling, coughing, fatigue, scratchy throat. No, this is not an ad for a flu relief medicine. Sadly, this is a reality for many of us as the winter season approaches with its insidious colds and flus. During this stretch, rabbis visit many sick congregants with the...

Welcome to Wawa — and Shabbat Shalom!

by Stephen Silver | Jan 24, 2019 | Community, Community Resources, Religion

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — There’s something uniquely American about an event that combines secular ritual with actual religion. In six states and the District of Columbia, but especially in Pennsylvania, shopping at Wawa is very much a ritual. It’s the convenience store...

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...