By Rabbi Uri Topolosky (’05), for Washington Jewish Week
For two years in a row, our congregation has concluded Yom Kippur under the stars — this past year due to COVID, and the year before after a 3-year-old boy pulled the fire alarm with 20 minutes left in Neilah.… Read the rest
By Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff for The Jewish Forward
Amid today’s climate catastrophe, Tu B’Shvat offers us a chance to consider our role as environmental caretakers. This past year, news of droughts and deluges, fires and floods, has woven itself across our news feeds in an unending parade of devastation that can only be described as biblical in proportion.… Read the rest
Interview with Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff (’18)
Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff (’18) is a professional genealogist and Global Connections Education Associate at the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
How did you first become interested in genealogy?
I was about 15 years old when I first became interested in genealogy.… Read the rest
Interview with Rabbi Mike Schultz (’08) by Nathan Jeffay in The Times of Israel
As Israel’s third wave COVID cases surge, Rabbi Mike Schultz dons his hazmat suit, and prepares to talk about Allah.
Israel’s Arab citizens have been disproportionately hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which means that 12 years after graduating from a New York rabbinical school, Schultz is spending his days talking with a lot of patients who are deeply probing their Islamic faith.… Read the rest
By Rabbi Dr. Jon Kelsen for eJewish Philanthropy
I thank you, eternally living King! For You have returned within me my soul, with compassion; Your faithfulness is great!
The prayer Modah [Modeh] Ani was authored by 16th century Safed kabbalist, R.… Read the rest
By Rabbi Dov Linzer for The Jewish Forward
As of this writing, President Donald Trump has yet to concede the Presidential election, despite having decisively lost the Electoral College as well as the popular vote. Instead of conceding, the president has filed numerous lawsuits in battleground states while vociferously alleging widespread voter fraud on Twitter, claims that, with a tiny number of exceptions, have no merit.… Read the rest
By Rabbi Yonah Berman for The Jewish Forward
In the 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike,” George Castanza is embarrassed when his father Frank shamelessly promotes Festivus, a December 23 celebration that Frank created years ago in reaction to the other winter festivals in popular culture.… Read the rest
By Rabbi Dr. Jon Kelsen for eJewish Philanthropy
A quick look at the papers, glance out the window, or moment of introspection reveal one the emotional turmoil being activated on all levels of social and political life during these extraordinarily trying days.… Read the rest
3700 Henry Hudson Parkway, 2nd Floor
Riverdale, NY 10463
Phone: (212) 666-0036
Fax: (212) 666-5633
Email: office@yctorah.org
Click here to sign up to receive updates from YCT straight to your inbox.
