Imagine the scene. Silence. Church lights dim. On the altar table and the floor and steps around it, dozens of candles flicker, some atop pillars of pink and purple, the Advent colors. In pews, 50 or ...

Neilah, the closing service on Yom Kippur. I was 16, standing in the back of my synagogue’s main sanctuary. The metaphor of the service is simple: with the sun setting, the gates of prayer and ...