Secular Holidays

Secular holidays give us the chance to widen our communities of celebration. We can join with other Americans for prayer, introspection or community service, as we observe holidays that connect us to each other. We can also interpret these holidays in a Jewish context, understanding them in light of the texts and experiences of our people.

Photo by Lauren Brody-Hyett

Appreciating Our Elders

By Doris Dyen and Reena Sigmund Friedman | Ritual Component

Questions for an intergenerational Thanksgiving conversation [more]

Found In: Becoming an Elder, Thanksgiving

1492

By Emma Lazarus | Poem

The ironically "two-faced year," when the Jews were expelled from Spain and Columbus discovered America [more]

Found In: Secular Holidays

Tags: Columbus Day

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus | Poem

The stirring ode to the "New World" inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty [more]

Found In: Independence Day, Thanksgiving

Reflection and Prayer for a Nation At War

Rabbi Jill Hammer | Prayer

A moving prayer for a nation at war, based on a passage in the book of Joshua in which Joshua, Moses' successor, is about to go to war, and meets an angel [more]