Meet the New York Jewish Week's 36 to Watch 2024
May 29, 2024
It’s been an unprecedented and difficult year for the Jewish community and, in times like this, tradition can be a comfort. That’s why we’re especially honored to present this year’s 36 to Watch, our annual list spotlighting remarkable New Yorkers for their contributions to our city...Read More

Growing number of Jews using NY's first Reform cheers kadisha burial society
By Fran Kritz, March 11, 2024
When members of the year-old Reform Communal Chevra Kadisha of New York complete their work preparing a Jewish body for burial, they take a few minutes to stand together around the closed coffin. Traditionally, this is a moment...Read More

Podcast: New York's First Reform Chevra Kaddisha
February 19, 2024
Four Jewish groups say they are the first in New York City to establish a chevra kadisha, or burial society, associated with the Reform movement. The society, which will perform rituals embraced by those who typically follow Jewish law more stringently, was formed by...Read More

Reform Jews create a NYC burial society
By Stewart Ain, March 8, 2023
Four Jewish groups say they are the first in New York City to establish a chevra kadisha, or burial society, associated with the Reform movement. The society, which will perform rituals embraced by those who typically follow Jewish law more stringently, was formed by...Read More

First-Ever Reform Chevra Kaddisha in New York City Is Established
Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, March 7, 2023
The first-ever Reform Chevra Kaddisha in New York City has been established by a consortium of four Jewish organizations, a development that officials said will open the sacred end-of-life practice to a wider Jewish community...Read More

Bless These Hands: Creating a Reform Chevra Kadisha in NYC
By Jane Herman, January 29, 2023
In 2010, our family spent 11 days in hospice, accompanying our mother and wife to the end of her life as the body that had held her soul for more than seven decades succumbed to disease after an excruciating seven weeks of illness. After she died, our rabbi asked if we wanted to arrange for shmirah — individuals to watch over her body until burial...Read More

The Four Corners of the World Seder
By Rachel Margolin, May 2020
In this opening of the Maggid portion of the seder, the Rabbis implore us to welcome anyone in need into our homes for the Pesach seder. But what happens when a pandemic means we cannot open our homes, we cannot help those in need and we cannot connect with friends and loved ones around our table? This was the dilemma plaguing Alissa Platcow this Pesach...Read More