Yom Kippur

How a small town ‘Jewish hut’ has turned Sukkot into a cross-cultural shelter of peace - opinion

The Waterville Jewish community and the Center for Small Town Jewish Life have chosen a unique response to this moment of increased Jewish vulnerability and alienation.

The frame for the Waterville sukkah was up by workers from the city.
 Central Selichot services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. August 24, 2023

The future of our people: Strength, love, safety in our youth - opinion

 Graduating students hold a sign reading "There Are No Universities Left in Gaza" during the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University, May 2024.

Harvard professor suspended after allegedly firing pellet gun near Brookline synagogue

A person crouches next to floral tributes left near the Manchester synagogue, where multiple people were killed on Yom Kippur, in what police have declared a terrorist incident, in north Manchester, Britain, October 4, 2025.

'It just didn't look right': Manchester synagogue chair on attacker's behavior


'I'm scared to go to the synagogue,' Manchester synagogue terror attack survivors speak to NYT

Survivors of the Yom Kippur terror attack in Manchester describe fear, grief, and rising antisemitism as police tighten security across the city.

People gather near the scene, after an attack in which a car was driven at pedestrians and stabbings were reported near a synagogue in north Manchester, Britain, October 2, 2025.

Yom Kippur War: How the Book of Isaiah spurred world Jewry to back Israel, refusniks in 1973

The haftarah for Yom Kippur begins with these action-filled words of Isaiah. We must act – we must cut the road through – it is up to us to clear the way for ami – My people – God’s people.

NEW YORK’S Jewish community marches beneath the banner ‘We shall not be silent’ during the Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jewry demonstration in protest at the Soviet Union’s treatment of Jewish people, in New York City, in 1975.

Yom Kippur prayer: May this evil/tyrannical government be removed from the Earth - opinion

The current government of Israel – and the Jews of Israel who support it as well as Jews everywhere – need to not only hear but also to heed the call of the shofar this year.

 A MAN blows a shofar during a peace march in Jerusalem in 2025.

Yom Kippur: What Mishnah Yoma teaches about Jewish unity and public conflict

Let’s use our unique tradition of disagreement, debate, and conversation across difference to explore new solutions where we’ve been stuck for at least the past two years. 

PRO-ISRAELI ACTIVISTS argue with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a protest in New York in 2025.

The evolution of ‘Aleinu’: Atonement, acknowledgment, and an apostate

The Aleinu prayer has also been associated with martyrdom, especially of the Jews of Blois, who in 1171 were accused of ritual murder and offered their lives in exchange for baptism.

JEWISH SOLDIERS in the German Prussian army take part in a Yom Kippur service prior to the 1870 Siege of Metz, during the Franco-Prussian War.

A biblical legend: Yom Kippur and the mystery of Miriam's Well

So powerful was the tradition of Miriam’s Well in Jewish folklore that even after the spring disappeared into Lake Kinneret some 3.5 millennia ago, it occasionally miraculously briefly appeared.

‘MIRIAM’S MIRACULOUS WELL,’ from a synagogue at Dura-Europos, located in modern-day eastern Syria.

University of Maryland student government passes BDS resolution on Yom Kippur

The executive director of UMD’s Hillel chapter condemned the decision, saying it excluded Jewish students from the process by being held on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Attendees listen as names of Palestinian infants killed in the war in Gaza are read aloud during a vigil organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland campus on October 07, 2024 in College Park, Maryland.

Lessons from Rabbi Adler: Be your father’s son - opinion

Even observant Jews are unfamiliar with the intricacies of Jewish laws and customs surrounding death and mourning.

THE WRITER on his wedding day, with his father.

Yom Kippur: The true meaning of 'all is forgiven' - opinion

“All is forgiven” means no holding back; no grudges, no enmity, and most importantly, no self-inflicted poison. And not for some – but for all!

GERMAN PRESIDENT Frank-Walter Steinmeier hugs German Holocaust survivor and public speaker Margot Friedlander during an event in Berlin in 2023.

'I am sorry': A Yom Kippur apology to the families of hostages

On this Yom Kippur, I am sorry that we as a people, who know far better than any other that there is no salvation without our unity, did not perform our destined duty toward the hostage families.

THE SILENT piano that awaits to be played by gifted pianist and hostage Alon Ohel.

Praying on broken ground: A father’s Yom Kippur with a son in Gaza - opinion

What does it mean to stand with your granddaughters, to pray and to play with them on the synagogue floor? To know that another generation is already here, watching, carrying, inheriting?

Heavy clouds cover the Tel Saki Memorial Site, commemorating the infamous battle where 35 young IDF soldiers were killed during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Golan Heights, October 1, 2025.