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Tag: Rosh Hashanah

  • Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Rosh Hashanah, and a return to “our better selves”

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    On the eve of the Jewish New Year, we have thoughts from Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York. Her new book, “Heart of a Stranger,” is about her journey to becoming the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi.

    At Rosh Hashanah, we count the years since God created the world, this year being the year 5,786 (give or take a few billion years!).

    While this is a season of joy and community gathering, the New Year also begins a season of atonement, where we take an accounting of who we are, and how we can do better. We believe that, with repentance, people – and societies – can change.

    This idea of taking stock as we approach a New Year may sound familiar. Many Americans make New Year’s resolutions on January 1: Resolving to learn a new skill, lose 15 pounds, or call their mother more often.

    This examination happens on Rosh Hashanah, too, but magnified. Jews come together and reflect for hours in synagogue, literally beating our chests as we read through a scripted litany of ways we have fallen short: For spreading lies or hateful speech; for acting callously towards others; for selfishness and greed. The list goes on.

    But importantly, we don’t confess individually. We do it communally. We take responsibility for one another, and hold each other accountable.

    / Credit: Pamela Dorman Books

    Sounds like it could be an unpleasant way to celebrate a New Year! But it’s a fundamentally hopeful message: There is joy in knowing we can change.

    This repentance in Hebrew is called Teshuvah, which literally means “return.” What are we returning to?

    To our better selves. To who we know we can be, as human beings, and as a society.

    Imagine if we, as a country, could make teshuvah together? Not pointing fingers to the other side, saying, You’re the problem. But collectively:

    We have ignored the vulnerable. We have normalized mass violence. We have celebrated the death of opponents. We have rewarded outrage over understanding. We have forgotten how to grieve, and how to hope together.

    On the cusp of this New Year, I know we can return, to the best in ourselves, to the best in our country, to the goodness, compassion and generosity that this nation has shown me, as an immigrant, Korean female rabbi.

    Wishing you L’Shana Tova.

    WEB EXCLUSIVE: Rabbi Angela Buchdahl with a song for Rosh Hashanah (YouTube Video)
    As the Jewish calendar marks Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, of the Central Synagogue in New York City, offers “Sunday Morning” viewers a performance of the song “Return Again” by Shlomo Carlebach.

        
    For more info:

    “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging” by Angela Buchdahl (Pamela Dorman Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available Oct. 25 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.orgRabbi Angela Buchdahl, Central Synagogue, New York

          
    Story produced by Lucie Kirk. Editor: Remington Korper. 

    Nature: Piping plovers in Maine

    Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Rosh Hashanah, and a return to “our better selves”

    Extended interview: Doja Cat

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  • This Jewish New Year we sit in discomfort of work to be done

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    Years ago, right after Yom Kippur morning services let out, a woman walked up to me in the synagogue lobby in great distress. I had given a sermon that pressed on the issues of the day, and it had unsettled her. She told me, in no uncertain terms, “I came here for comfort. And all you did was make me angry and upset.”

    That exchange has stayed with me. It raised a question that lingers every year at this season. What is the purpose of religion? Is it meant to comfort us? To offer refuge from uncertainty? To act as an antidote to the anxieties of daily life?

    The Jewish High Holy Days arrive each year with a clear answer. No. Religion, they suggest, is not meant to numb our discomfort but rather, to deepen it.

    The holidays begin the evening of Sept. 22 with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which literally means “head of the year.” Rosh Hashanah celebrates the birthday of the world and reminds us that we are partners with God in the work of creation. The call of the shofar, the ram’s horn sounded on Rosh Hashanah morning, announces that this is not a light responsibility. The message of Rosh Hashanah is simple: So much depends on us.

    Then 10 days later comes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that day, we wear white garments traditionally used for burial. We fast and refrain from life-giving activities, we pray with liturgy that bluntly reminds us how some of us will live and some will die in the year ahead. We spend the day confronting our mistakes, rehearsing our mortality, and asking for forgiveness. This is not exactly a recipe for consolation.

    The High Holy Days are not about comfort. These days push us to feel vulnerable, to tap into our troubled souls and face our very own mortality. It is not an exaggeration to say that these days reveal the very difficult truth that the repair of a broken world begins with us.

    Our world is indeed broken. We live amid polarized politics, and we live with a looming climate crisis. We witness rising anti-Semitism, hatred, and bigotry. We see growing inequality. We face loneliness and isolation. Turn on the television and all you hear about is anger, resentments, blaming and finger-pointing, a steady stream of voices more intent on scoring points than seeking solutions.

    Rabbi Brian Leiken is the new rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Austin. (Provided by Aaron Perchonok)

    Of course, it makes sense that we yearn for our houses of worship to be places of comfort, places where our anxiety is paused if just for a moment. Yes, we need sanctuaries that allow us to rest from the drudgery, to escape from a world that is unsettling. That is a sacred part of what synagogues and churches and mosques provide.

    That cannot be the whole story. Because any religion that prioritizes escape over engagement fails its deepest calling. Faith is not meant to distract us from reality but to sharpen our vision of it. Its purpose is to heighten our sensitivity to pain, to injustice, to our own transgressions and then to move us toward increased responsibility.

    The woman who spoke to me on that Yom Kippur morning was honest about what she wanted. She asked me for comfort, and she did not find it in my sermon. I still think about her words today.

    As I prepare this year to lead High Holy Day services at Congregation Beth Israel here in Austin, I think about the many people who come into the synagogue seeking solace. I think about the many people searching for respite from the weight of a world that feels so heavy.

    I understand that yearning. In so many ways, I share that yearning.

    But I also know this: Our world will not heal itself. It needs us.

    Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel — who escaped Nazi Europe, who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, and who raised his voice against the Vietnam War — taught that religion is not an escape but a moral guide. Its purpose, he explained, is to awaken a deeper moral sensitivity, one that refuses silence in the face of injustice. Heschel put it this way: “Religion is not sentimentality. Religion is sensitivity. It is being answerable to the world’s wonder and to the world’s pain.” (Heschel speech on Religion and Race, 1963)

    As we enter this season of the High Holy Days, may we carry that sensitivity and that responsibility with us.

    Wishing everyone a Shana Tova, a happy New Year.

    Brian Leiken is the senior rabbi at Austin’s Congregation Beth Israel. Find information about Jewish High Holy Day services at bethisrael.org.

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  • Chocolate Babka Is the Best Excuse to Eat Chocolate for Breakfast

    Chocolate Babka Is the Best Excuse to Eat Chocolate for Breakfast

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    We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.

    Every time I see a picture of babka, I find myself mesmerized by all of its lovely twists, turns, and swirly patterns. Whether it’s filled with spices and nuts or stuffed with a savory filling, babkas are beautiful yeasted labors of love. 

    Chocolate babkas are popular for a reason — their dark chocolate filling melts right into a slightly sweet dough and becomes pure magic as it bakes and rises into a soft, pillowy loaf. Babkas may look complicated to make, but their signature pattern is achieved by a simple cutting-and-braiding technique that looks amazing, even if you don’t pull it off perfectly. Here’s how you can make your very own babka at home. 

    The Main Ingredients You’ll Need for Chocolate Babka

    This recipe makes two loaves, so that you can keep one and give the other away — or keep both for yourself! 

    Here are the ingredients you’ll need.

    The Two Things That Take This Chocolate Babka Over the Top

    To make this version super delicious, I incorporated two things that I learned from Breads Bakery in New York. The first tip is that, in addition to a spreadable chocolate filling, more chopped-up chocolate should be sprinkled over the filling before the dough is rolled up. This chocolate melts during baking and adds an extra boost of pure chocolaty flavor.

    The second tip involves the use of a glaze. A simple sugar syrup is brushed on the top of the babka as soon as it comes out of the oven. This glaze gives it a gorgeous sheen, but also adds a layer of moisture and helps keep the babka from drying out too quickly.

    How to Make Chocolate Babka

    Babka is beautiful because of the swirls of chocolate running throughout. To get that signature look, roll out the dough, top it with the chocolate filling, and roll it up into a log. Chill the log for 15 minutes, then cut it in half lengthwise. Turn the halves cut-side up — you’ll see lines of chocolate running down the length of the dough.

    To braid the babka, cross the halves at the center point to form an “X.” Starting at the center point, twist the two halves toward one end, then repeat with twisting toward the other end. Twisting from the center keeps the dough from stretching out too much and getting too long. As you work, keep the cut-side up as much as possible to evenly distribute the chocolate layers. Once twisted, transfer the babka to the loaf pan, tucking the ends underneath itself — and again, make sure the chocolate layers are close to the top.

    Babkas freeze wonderfully well, so just wrap up a cooled loaf in plastic wrap, then wrap again in aluminum foil or place in a plastic zip-top freezer bag. Freeze for up to two months and thaw on the counter for a few hours when you’re ready to eat. If you like your babka toasted, skip using a standard toaster because the chocolate can burn. Place slices on a baking sheet, and toast in a toaster oven or regular oven instead. If you’re feeling extra, turn those slices into an over-the-top French toast!

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    Christine Gallary

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