Joel Roselin: We Remember Them

The high holidays are steeped in memories.  We remember the joy of Isaac’s birth and the trauma of his binding.  We remember the preparations for the ancient sacrifices by the high priests in the holy of holies.  With each shofar blast, we remember the destruction of the temple and our subsequent history in the diaspora.… Read more »

Todd Chanko: Elul Release

Down next to me in this lonely crowd, Is a man who swears he’s not to blame. All day long I hear him cry so loud, Calling out that he’s been framed. Hearing “I Shall Be Released” for the first time when I was fourteen – the year my head was exploded by Bob Dylan… Read more »

Jane Eisner: The Blessing of Aging Gracefully

Assuming that his health holds, my father-in-law will join us for Rosh Hashanah, as he has for many years. My brother-in-law drives him from his home in Northern Virginia, and though his eyesight is failing and his gait increasingly unsteady, he will sit through the davening at Minyan M’at and slip upstairs on the second… Read more »

Jeremy Kalmanofsky: Elul Consciousness

“The past is never dead,” wrote William Faulkner. “It’s not even past.” As long as things we said and did long ago still shape our conduct and character – well, then, prior events are still very present. Thinking this way might leave you neurotic, imprisoned by things you cannot change. Maybe it would be better… Read more »

Oren Rudavsky: Davka

I recently completed producing a documentary film which filled my daily life with great meaning. The film Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire is infused with the words of Elie in his own voice, and those words have lived inside me these past several years. I’ve tried to embrace their philosophy, which I think is very appropriate for… Read more »