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Explore our RA bookstore, articles on Exploring Judaism, teshuvot of the Committee on Jewish Law & Standards (CJLS), our Tzedek Center, holiday guides, and more.
Additional Piyyutim for Use on the Yamim Noraim
Although Mahzor Lev Shalem contains many more piyyutim than was true of the previous RA mahzor, several rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders have requested three additional piyyutim.
Home Observances: Shabbat
One-page sheets containing Shabbat rituals and blessings for the home.
RA Sends Condolences to Rabbi Attacked in Berlin
August 30, 2012
RA Expresses Concern for Anti-Semitic ViolenceNEW YORK – Earlier this week, Daniel Alter, one of the first liberal rabbis to be ordained in Germany since the Holocaust, and the former rabbi of the Masorti congregation in Oldenburg, Germany, was...
RA Voices Aversion Toward a Controversial Circumcision-Related Practice
September 10, 2012
NEW YORK – The New York City Board of Health is scheduled to vote this week on requiring parental consent for mohalim to engage in the controversial practice of m'tzitzah b’peh, or direct oral suction, during a b'rit milah. The Rabbinical Assembly...
Food Stamp Challenge
September 13, 2012
In taking the Food Stamp Challenge, you will personally experience the challenges of hunger in the United States – challenges that the 1 in 7 Americans who use food stamps, including nearly 25% a quarter of all American children, face daily. This is...
RA Condemns Violence in Cairo, Libya
September 14, 2012
NEW YORK – In response to violence in Cairo and Libya earlier this week, leaving three dead including American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, Julie Schonfeld issued the following statement today on behalf of the board, staff and members of...
The Arba'ah Minim
September 24, 2012
By Alan Lucas
Adapted from The Observant Life
The arba’ah minim, literally “the four species,” are better known as the lulav and etrog, after the two most prominent of the four: the palm branch and the citron. The other two species are...
RA Concerned by French Politician’s Anti-Semitism, Anti-Muslim Bigotry
September 24, 2012
NEW YORK – The leader of France’s Front National political party, Marine Le Pen, who ran for president earlier this year, this weekend said the government should ban religious head coverings in public. She attempted to cover up her gaffe by...
Resources for Hoshana Rabbah, Simhat Torah, & Sh'mini Atzeret
October 4, 2012
As this holiday season comes to a close, we'd like to highlight these resources: Hoshana Rabbah: Hoshanot text and kavannot for Hoshana Rabbah from Or Hadash Beat It! the Ritual of of Havatat Aravot Why do we beat the willow? This...
RA Dismayed by Protestants’ Call for Congressional Investigation of Aid to Israel
October 10, 2012
NEW YORK – In response to a letter released Friday by a group of representatives of mainline Protestant groups, calling for Congressional investigations into all foreign aid to Israel on the basis that Israel has allegedly used it in violation of...
CJLS Reviews Papers at Semi-Annual Meeting
October 25, 2012
RA’s standards committee approved new papers at meetings this week NEW YORK – The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards met Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss a number of papers. "Reciting Ma'ariv Early on Erev Shabbat" by Barry Leff, as well as a...
A Prayer in the Aftermath of a Devastating Storm
October 31, 2012
by Menachem Creditor
Elohei ha-ruchot, God of the Winds,1
Fixated as we are by incalculable losses in our families, our neighbors, human beings spanning national borders, we are pummeled into shock, barely even able to call out to...