The Month of Av

Does my generation, witnessing skyrocketing divorce rates and illicit affairs plastered across the media, even believe that true love is possible? Do we realize what we are missing?

I believe. I have to believe. If I don’t believe, I am left with nothing. I believe, because how can I not?

The kabbalah of the Three Weeks: a buried seed of goodness, a 21-day almond-wood, walls that protect and walls that imprison, the pregnant Tet, and a cosmic birth that puts history to rights

My personal mourning mingles with the mourning of centuries, with the loss of our Temple, a physical house in which to receive the presence of G‑d. Grief layers upon grief...

I think of the caterpillars we watched as children, seeing them lift-and-crunch from tail to fore as they jerk across a leaf. And I wonder if, standing beside the white or yellow line painted along the tar of Jaffa Street, onlookers felt they'd missed a step as the tractor crunched and swung for death...

Why do the Jewish people continue to mourn and weep year after year? Isn't there such a thing as live and let go? Be happy with the moment and forget the past?

There were no greater festivals for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur. On these days the daughters of Jerusalem would go out... and dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? "Young man, raise your eyes and see which you select for you..."

Two of the most basic of shapes, yet two extremely deep and complex ideas. Feminine and masculine. The circle and the line . . .

My Hebrew birth date is the 15th of Av, Tu b'Av-- a joyous occasion representing the ending of many poignant events in our history, and therefore representative of many new beginnings. To me this is indeed auspicious as there is a certain thread linking all of these events together...

I didn't realize the number of soldiers who died here, nor did I comprehend how young they were. I found myself having trouble breathing a lot of the time...

My mother’s behavior was not unique. To be a child of a survivor means being hyper-vigilant, as though this act of vigilance could keep the wolves from their prey…

Jamie came into marriage and kosher cooking without knowing a spatula from a saucepan. Determined to master cooking, yet pressed for time, she set out to compile a collection of fast (no more than fifteen minutes prep time!) and easy recipes . . .

When the nine days come, the parent of a food-allergic child tends to get even more creative than usual...

Although the Jewish year is filled with wonderful holidays in abundance several times a year – six to be precise – we fast. Some people find fasting quite arduous, so there are some pointers that can help ease the fast-related hunger pangs.