How is your congregation celebrating the High Holy Days this year? Jewish Rhode Island wants to know. Please send information, including contact email and phone number, to editor@jewishallianceri.org by Aug. 28, 2020. more

Whether you plan to pray online for the High Holy Days this year or to dip apples in honey and hear the blasts of the shofar in temple, the Jewish New Year will arrive at sunset on Friday, Sept. 18. Will you be present for services or will COVID-19 keep you at home? Will the holidays be filled with regrets for what they should have been? Will 5781 be a sweet year? While no one can see the future, we can find inspiration and hope right now from rabbis in our community. more

JERUSALEM (JTA) – The tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims who travel each year to Ukraine for a Rosh Hashanah rite will have to make different plans for September. more

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s Health Ministry is considering ordering Israelis to limit their Rosh Hashanah celebrations to only their nuclear families, an Israeli newspaper is … more

PROVIDENCE, April 7, 2020 — Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers? It is easy to know the answer to that question, but we must acknowledge that it is also very hard. This year, especially for families and friends who love to gather in large groups for their Seders, the COVID-19 crisis brings disappointment. This year, we must celebrate the festival only with our household members as part of our effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. We can derive strength and comfort knowing that we are helping to save lives in this way, but there is no denying that this is not the Passover we had hoped for. more

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Passover 2020 promises to be unlike anything most Jews have ever experienced. How do you have a seder when most states have mandated, and the best medical … more

People have been asking me how will they be able to do Passover while in quarantine? A friend tells me “Rabbi this year we won’t be doing a Seder because the kids are not coming.” more

BOSTON (JTA) – Miriam the Prophetess, Elijah the Prophet and the Four Questions take center stage among this spring’s crop of new Passover books for kids, penned by some of … more

  (The Nosher via JTA) – Haroset is one of the most important food components of the Passover seder. Its intense sweetness symbolizes optimism, contrasting with the bitter maror and … more

AS I WRITE THIS in mid-March, uncertainty abounds over the coronavirus pandemic, but one thing is certain: No matter how long the outbreak and its fallout last, it has already hurt the quality of our lives, and has made us care more deeply about activities that we otherwise take for granted. Even though most Americans realize it’s a serious situation, it’s hard to accept the severe restrictions imposed on our personal lives because of the virus, especially since past pandemics, including the H1N1 swine flu in 2009-10, never reached this level. For instance, in those other outbreaks, people weren’t thrown out of work, closed off from their schools and houses of worship, or told that they couldn’t patronize bars and restaurants. Not since 9/11 has American life changed so dramatically and so rapidly. more