In Israel, everyone seemingly is in a good mood during Hanukkah. Of course, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood while eating sufganiyot (jelly donuts). 

Last year, our family took a cruise during Hanukkah. The nightly candle lighting brought together so many people and different kinds of “Jewish” into one community.

Last year, my pre-school-aged daughter was acutely aware that her friends and their families would be celebrating Christmas and that she wasn’t going to be a part of it.

Our tradition tells of the great leader, Judah Maccabee. But what of his brothers? What do we know about them – the quiet leaders who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him?

Accompanying student groups to the Kotel repeatedly reminds me that Israel is a place like none other. On my most recent trip, I got another reminder of that fact. 

Sustaining a minority culture in the face of Christmas’s incessant commercial drumbeat can be exhausting.

Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, CA, is dedicated to raising the voices of queer folks so the rest of the Jewish community cannot help but hear our cry.

It's a conversation I had had hundreds of times in my 44 years as a Jewish educator. However, this time was different: It was with my son.