How the closing of a website for Yom Kippur confessions explains the internet
The death and life of AtoneNet, a living tapestry of Jewish guilt
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Life The Atonement Prayers We Should All Say, In The #MeToo Era
As the Days of Awe roll around, we find ourselves repeating two traditional confession prayers — Al Chet and Ashamnu — many times throughout Selichot (penitential prayers) and Yom Kippur. What makes this year different from other years? This year, we enter the High Holiday season with the painful memories of #MeToo, fresh wounds of…
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The Schmooze 6 Ways To Get Right With God This Yom Kippur
With Yom Kippur approaching, some might be thinking about how to get right with God. And over time a vast compendium of traditions have built up around the holy day in pursuit of just that. As we gear up for the big fast next Wednesday, here’s a selection of six of those customs, none of…
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Community We Need to Talk About Kapparot
It’s 5777, and it’s time to change the conversation about Kapparot. Next week, in the day or two before we observe Yom Kippur, we’ll hear about or participate in the long-standing Jewish folk tradition that attracts explosive debate over its use of live chickens: Kapparot, or Kapporos, a ritual practiced by some Jews in which…
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Opinion Why Do We Feel Dread On Yom Kippur?
I Godology is a monthly conversation between writer Elissa Strauss and Rabbi Scott Perlo in which they explore what it means to be “God-ish” — to kind of, sort of, believe in God. SCOTT: It always strikes me as a strange paradox that the theology of the holidays is expressed through the image of God…
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Life The Difference Between Fasting and Anorexia
From the moment I woke up on the morning of my first Yom Kippur in September of 2010, a heavy ache sat right at my forehead, some combination of early hunger pangs, a minor hangover, and caffeine withdrawal. When I later sat next to my boyfriend and his family at their New Brunswick, New Jersey…
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Opinion All That Divides Us as We Atone
The Season of Repentance is shaping up to be a tough slog this year. Of course, when Yom Kippur comes, Jews will gather in our millions in synagogues across the globe to recite the prayers together and bask in the warmth of family for a few hours. In fact, it’s the one moment in the…
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Opinion We Don’t Do Forgiveness Well
The High Holidays don’t work for me. I know that Yom Kippur is supposed to be the holiest day of the year, and I’ve read and listened to many great ideas about how Yom Kippur is supposed to work on supreme spiritual issues and in sanctifying relationships and community. And I’ve been trying it out…
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