Is it my imagination or are the holiday lights burning a little brighter this year? Are the trees in downtown Naperville sparkling a little more? When you spot your neighbors’ Christmas tree in the window, does it look a little more bedazzled?

Is there finally an actual light at the end of the dark tunnel that is 2020?

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Sometimes, seeing the world thorugh the eyes of a child brings about the most profound insights. This is what happened to local resident Allison Bloodworth last December when her son, then age 6, started asking some important questions.

"He asked me while we were driving around town, 'Why aren't there any Hanukkah lights?'" said Bloodworth.

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Before becoming a rabbi, Benay Lappe wanted to be a Buddhist monk.

While Jews have often been drawn to Eastern traditions, few dedicate nearly a decade to becoming a devout Buddhist in Japan. Lappe is hardcore. But before making her final commitment, she consulted with a rabbi in Tokyo who gave her a copy of “Pirkei Avot.”

This little Jewish book of wisdom “messed me up,” she said, and she had the realization that Jews were indeed as wise as Buddhists.

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LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Religious groups are urging California education officials to include their histories and cultures in a model ethnic studies curriculum being developed for high schools in the state.

The proposed curriculum, which the Department of Education has been planning since 2018, centers on Chicanos and Latino Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans. It is intended to serve as a guide as schools design the ethnic studies courses that could be mandated for graduation beginning later this decade.

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For 40 years, Judie Cotton has volunteered at the Valley Beth Shalom Counseling Center, an independent nonprofit staffed by 25 trained counselors and housed at Valley Beth Shalom, a 1,500-member Conservative congregation in Encino, California. This year she has noticed increased call volume both at the counseling center and her private therapy practice, particularly among adults under 40 suffering from depression and anxiety.

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A major New York Jewish organization co-hosted an event in New York this week to debate a subject that most in the city assume has long been settled — whether the swastika is good or bad.

While the notorious hooked-cross symbol has long been associated with the evil of Nazism and hate, it has for even longer been revered by Hindus and Buddhists, who argued Monday that swastika was misused by Hitler and its image should be rehabilitated.

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Following several racist and anti-Semitic incidents in Ithaca, local faith leaders are doubling down on ongoing anti-racist programming. While their approaches vary, they have a common message: Hate has no home in Ithaca.

In recent months, local religious leaders have invited speakers on anti-racism, organized anti-racist reading groups and have sought to...

As the first polls began to close Tuesday (Nov. 3), the Rev. Cara Tanis logged off.

Instead of obsessing over election returns as they trickled in throughout the night, she went for a walk.

Tanis was joined by 50 to 70 people who attended “Walking for the Common Good” around Seattle’s Green Lake, carrying battery-operated votive candles and praying that every vote cast in the 2020 presidential election would be counted.

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Lord Ganesha greets visitors to the home of Jagdish and Shobha Patel in Holland.

A figurine of the deity is positioned prominently in an altar set into a wall just off the kitchen, depicted as is traditional with the body of a man and the head of an elephant. One of several such depictions that the couple displays in their home, this one in porcelain and in the characteristic style of Lladró, it serves a purpose both spiritual and artistic.

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At a time when the nation feels more divided than ever, one unlikely group in Omaha, Nebraska, is trying to bring people together.

The Tri-Faith Initiative is a unique experiment in unity, sprawling across 38 acres on the edge of the city, almost smack in the center of America. There's a synagogue, a mosque and a church — and on Saturday, Tri-Faith introduced a new interfaith center, the final piece of a plan that was years in the making...

In 2017, shortly after a mass shooting occurred in Las Vegas, plans for an open-air Shabbat dinner on Pico Boulevard (as part of the global unity program, Shabbat Project) were cancelled.

Similarly, this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the hundreds of volunteers behind the 2020 Shabbat Project to get creative with how they plan their programs.

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An investigation is underway this week after Zoombombers disrupted a virtual shiva hosted by a West Hartford synagogue, displaying pornographic and anti-Semitic images that disrupted the somber mourning service.

Although brief, the cyberattack left some members of The Emanuel Synagogue congregation extremely upset and leaders are now considering additional technical security for its daily services, synagogue President Mel Simon said Wednesday.

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New London — When Amy Perry was a child in the 1960s, her Hebrew school classroom was consistently packed with students. By the time Perry's daughter attended the same school in the 2000s, however, it was full of empty seats.

Perry, executive director of the Thames River Heritage Park Foundation and a lifelong city resident, grew up in the then-bustling Congregation Beth-El. It was an era when the congregation was on the rise and its membership included some of the city's most prominent businesspeople, civic leaders and political voices.

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Prince William County school officials added Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim holidays to a tentative 2021-2022 calendar for the Virginia school system, and are asking parents to weigh in.

The proposed calendar would include the following:

• Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah;
• Jewish day of atonement Yom Kippur;
• Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights;
• Eid al-Fitr, which marks breaking of the fast at...

A lot of people turn to their religious communities for support through tough times. That sense of connection is different as people are navigating through the unprecedented time of 2020, but it’s not lost.

Emily Garforth, president of the Association of Jewish Students at Hillel, has felt the challenges of getting students involved in the organization this semester. She mentioned that less people are showing up to weekly Shabbat services because the dinner portion was pulled. 

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