The High Holidays bring with them a creative tension: respect for tradition alongside a call for change, a time when we are aware of both our blessings and our responsibilities. We hear this piercing call at the center of our High Holiday liturgy: "Let us proclaim the sacred power of this day," we pray during Unetanah Tokef. "It is awesome...

It just doesn't seem fair. After all, the pools are still filled. Summer, for so many of us, begins when the local swimming holes open on Memorial Day, and officially ends when they close on Labor Day. But this year, many area students will don their backpacks and board their buses well before the holiday weekend gets rolling. Those students...