This Jan. 17, in the dead of winter, we once again find ourselves in Tu B’shvat, a rabbinic holiday also known as Rosh Hashanah haIlanot, or “New Year of the Trees.” Tu B’shvat has evolved to...

I want to invite you to a day I spent with my grandfather about a month ago. He had recently informed me that he was in need of small plastic menorah inserts, prefilled cups of oil with wicks, for his...

Thanksgiving is a time to connect with loved ones close to you, to reflect and be thankful. The Torah provides a very similar sentiment long before our modern time: the korban todah -- the Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission is expected to vote on whether to approve a hotel near the intersection of Pico and Robertson boulevards, which its developer says would serve both...

It’s 2021 and with many teens and adults now vaccinated against Covid-19, High Holiday services were different from 2020’s -- but how different? Five area synagogues surveyed by The Boiling Point...

Hashkama Minyan, an early-morning daily prayer service that began at 7:20 a.m and was offered to all students beginning in 2013, has now been made exclusive to students in AGS (Advanced Gemara Shiur) and...

The High Holidays are a very busy time of year in Judaism, and by the time we get to Sukkot, we’ve already been through Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and the Fast of Gedaliah. It’s a lot of extra time...

The holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. This is the day when we as the Jewish nation repent knowing God will forgive us. This is the meaning of Yom Kippur, right?  On Yom Kippur, the Haftorah that...

Blowing the shofar seems like a strange tradition. We take the horn of an animal, hollow it out, and then blow into it 100 times. But the shofar isn’t about the horn. It’s about what the horn symbolizes. In...

On Shavuot we read the Book of Ruth, whose character was strong and principled. She was a Moabite married into a Jewish family at a time when intermarriage was frowned upon. Tragedy struck the family suddenly,...