Jewcy Features

Our resident cartoonist teams up with cranky blogger David Kelsey to illustrate the gory history behind the Festival of Lights. CLICK TO ENLARGE

After years of being constantly annoyed and often angry about the historical denial built into Thanksgiving Day, I published an essay in November 2005 suggesting we replace the feasting with fasting and create a National Day of Atonement to acknowledge the genocide of indigenous people that is central to the creation of the United States. I expected criticism from right-wing and centrist people, given their common commitment to this country's distorted self-image that supports the triumphalist/supremacist notions about the United States so common in conventional politics, and I got plenty of such critique. But I was surprised by the resistance from liberals -- even some on the left, including a considerable number of my friends. The most common argument went something like this: OK, it's true that the Thanksgiving Day mythology is rooted in a fraudulent story -- about the European invaders coming in peace to the "New World," eager to cooperate with ...

Sylvia Browne Any psychic who’s been indicted for grand larceny and is a reoccurring guest on the Montel Williams Show is no winner in our book. She doesn’t listen to the people who come to her readings, she’s arrogant, and she’s about as sympathetic as a landlord holding an eviction notice. Two thumbs down. Watch as Brown explains to a couple that a “spirit or angel” spoke to them through their novelty wall bass. Then check out StopSilviaBrown.com, which has what we’re fairly confident is the most hilarious icon of any psychic-busting website, ever.

My uncle and his boyfriend have a Yom Kippur ritual: First they go to a nice lunch in Manhattan, and then they see a Broadway show. I’ve always loved that story because it’s so Jewish: They could go see The Producers or The Boy From Oz any time, but it wouldn’t be as special on any other day. Even for Jews with no interest in religion, the Day of Atonement has a kind of power. You can find Broadway tickets here, but if you’re going to try to engage with the holiday on its own terms, you’re better off with our custom events listings. Pick your type—hippie, hipster, Super-Jew, intellectual, alternaparent, swinging single—and follow the links to find a Yom Kippur event tailored to your own needs. Yom Kippur doesn’t let you get away with sitting passively in an ...

As pop song themes go, atonement is right up there with the biggies: sex, puppy love, devil worship. Songs of penance are especially ubiquitous in American popular music, and small wonder. So much American pop flows out straight out of the church – blues plaints, honky tonk rave-ups, and soul ballads are often little more than secularized sinners' confessions, ne'er-do-wells begging their women to let them please come home while an angry Old Testament God glares down from on high. Here then are 20 quasi-secular, mostly crypto-Christian pleas for forgiveness and pledges of reform – a perfect soundtrack for a nice Jewish boy or girl's Yom Kippur reckoning. There are two bona fidegospel songs, and one famous Jewish one. But even the secular love songs point toward a larger cosmic soul-cleansing: shut your eyes, maybe don't eat for a day, and Dean Martin's "Pardon (Perdoname)," Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," and "Kol Nidre" all start sounding like the ...

As an atheist raised in culturally Christian milieu who lives with a non-practicing Jew, I’m in no position to discourse on Jewish notion of atonement as practiced on Yom Kippur. But in my understanding, the holiday has to do with self-reflection, introspection and an attempt at restitution of past wrongs. I find this model of atonement appealing in its focus on the human as well as the divine: We wrong God when we wrong other people, and we can only make things right by addressing that earthly harm. There are so many great movies built around the timeless theme of sin and repentance. Here are a few that stand out for me:Pickpocket, Robert Bresson, France, 1959. Michel (Martin La Salle), an ...

I was recently called on the carpet by a Bel Air cantor when I told him that, despite my atheism, I still fasted on Yom Kippur. He asked why and, after some hemming and hawing that had to do with the memory of my deceased relatives, he said, "So you do it to feel good about yourself." The lesson being, for me, at least, that when it comes to atoning, motives count. I suspect I won't fast this year, but I might spend the day in the company of some more deeply felt literary atoners.

Whether you’re Orthodox or atheist, you’ve no doubt encountered non-Jewish works of art that resonate with fundamentally Jewish teachings about repentance and forgiveness. Yom Kippur asks us to atone for 24 hours straight, which seems like a power cleanse for the soul that's bound to wear off quickly.Like New Year's resolution-themed gym fliers that get mailed in March, constant subjection to atonement art can help you stay sin-free well into 5768.Jewcy asked three of our favorite writers to give us lists of films, songs and books that deal with expiation at the universal level. Stick the movies in your Netflix queue, download the songs from iTunes, one-click those books from Amazon. You'll have a twelve-month supply of gentle reminders that teshuva means saying you're sorry over and over and over again.

For Rosh Hashanah, we rounded up events for seven Jewish archetypes in six major U.S cities. Now, we’re doing the same for the second, more solemn of the High Holy Days. Find your type below and click on the city closest to you for services, break-fasts, lectures and shows tied to Yom Kippur. The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels Davening is fine and good, but you want to dance barefoot, preferably around a drum circle on the beach. A hamsa hangs from your hemp necklace, and you'll be needing a vegan alternative to that brisket. Click the city nearest you for Hippie events: Boston |

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Mystical reflections of Yom Kippur When: Saturday, September 22, 3:45 PM Where: Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th St Why: Explore the oneness of time, space and consciousness with a totally far-out discussion by Rabbi Yossi Brackman on the mystical dimensions of Yom Kippur.     The Hipster: Way Too Cool for Hebrew School ...