Running and Returning: A Personal Reflection on Prayer, Contemporary Poetry, and Yom Kippur’s Neilah...

In this essay, Yehoshua November presents a model for preparing for the High Holidays

Letters to the Editor: Responses to Zach Truboff on Religious Zionism and Yosef Lindell...

Yitzchak Blau and Michael Broyde respond to recent articles that have driven conversation.

Can Religious Zionism Do Teshuvah?

  Zach Truboff In 1933, as the month of Elul approached, the Jewish people faced a frightening array of dangers. That year, Hitler consolidated power as...

What is Ne’ilah?

The Ne’ilah prayer, which we recite only once a year, clearly represents a moment of great religious drama, but its precise nature and purpose are somewhat mysterious. Alan Jotkowitz presents four different models for understanding Ne’ilah, drawing upon the teachings of Rav Yehuda Amital, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rav Ya’akov Medan.

On Yom Kippur, determinism and national unity

Aton Holzer explores the role of free will and its limits in the Yom Kippur liturgy.

Why Can’t Selihot Be More Like Kinot?

Yosef Lindell argues that the explanatory Kinot model, where fewer prayers are said but they are delved into in more depth, should be adopted for reciting Selihot.

סליחות תשפ״ד

In an original Hebrew poem for Tishrei 5785, Shoshanah Haberman addresses God directly about the pain and uncertainty of our moment.

Until It Is Enough: Conversations about Shiurim for Yom Kippur 

Sarah Osborne offers guidance for people who need to eat on Yom Kippur.

Teshuvah: A Radical, Refreshing, and Renewing Approach

Yiscah Smith explores the conceptions of teshuvah presented in the writings of the Piaseczner Rebbe and the Ba’al Ha-Tanya, identifying in them a novel approach to personal growth that speaks to contemporary Jews.

These Days

A new poem by Hannah Butcher-Stell, for the Days of Awe.