ReformJudaism.org has the perfect recipes to help you give thanks for the fall harvest. Find your nearest sukkah and start noshing!

Halloween brings me a bit of stress each year. On a very basic level, I'm just not a fan of this holiday that, in recent years, seems to have become so much bigger than ever before.

As Canadian clergy working in a Reform congregation in New Jersey, we encountered our share of confusion about American Thanksgiving during our integration into life in this country. 

Cantor Marer: I’ll never forget the time I tried to convince my boyfriend

A young man came to a rabbi for a chat.

“I’ve bought a new car” said the young man to the rabbi.

“Congratulations,” he replied.

And the young man went on, “It has been a while since I have been saving to achieve this dream.

We pray to you
Creator of the Universe,
who causes the winds to blow
and the seas to rage…

For the weary and the heart shattered
refugees
escaping violence and bloodshed and war

Who step into raging waters
with an impossible prayer
it is safer than the

Chocolate smooths transitions. As we move from summer to fall – vacation to school, Elul to Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur to Sukkot – we might extract historical wisdom from chocolate.

Thanksgiving used to be a day unto itself; now we have a whole Thanksgiving season! Americans' shopping habits brought us catchily-named, add-on "holidays" like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

One of the great paradoxes of being an American Reform Jew who chose to make aliyah (move to Israel) is that the whole concept of majority and minority is turned on its head.

Our tradition gives life to journeying. The Torah affirms wandering.

Usually we think of the Torah in its discrete portions. We divide it up week by week. The reading of these five books can then be more easily completed in one year's time.