A little less certain — but suggested ever more strongly with each find and study — is that Neanderthals had language, and that they were capable of collective planning (lighting bush fires, for instance, to drive prey towards them). They probably buried their dead, with a degree of ritual, and they probably smiled and loved and grieved. They appear to have valued particular sites in the landscape, possibly as places of group memory and tradition.

…as everything from team stores to museums, galleries, gyms, parks, and ski areas adopt similar reservation requirements this fall, it seems as if we are no longer witnessing a temporary phenomenon. A widespread switch to reservation systems — if done right — could in fact be one of the better changes to come out of the pandemic upheaval.

Getting famous on TikTok can happen very quickly. In a matter of months, a highly driven teen can build an audience that translates into millions of dollars in endorsement deals; a bored weirdo can dress up as Waluigi and do the “WAP” dance, attracting more than 7 million views and starting a ridiculous new trend… Young people go viral on social-media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram too, but TikTok is unique in how its algorithm pulls oddities out of the blue and pushes them into a main feed seen by millions of people. And many of those millions of people are teens.

… in this year of turmoil, it’s worth reflecting on the longevity of 5781 to see what it can offer us in 2020. There are several major themes to the Jewish story: a bond with God and Torah, a search for truth and justice, a calling to bring holiness to the world, among others.

As we confront the multiple crises of 2020, we might focus on another theme: resilience.

As a Zionist, I love this new era of peace and what it means for Israel. But inside, I coveted with a passion that would have left Abraham mortified. Is it normal to be jealous of the UAE? Yes, if you’re an Iranian Jew… For 41 years, my community — which once boasted 100,000 Jews in Iran — has watched helplessly as the regime has targeted Israel through a campaign of terror, demonization and proxy wars.

As the world prepares for its first High Holy Days season of the pandemic era, the team behind Haggadot.com, a nonprofit, crowdsourced haggadah-making platform, has launched HighHolidaysAtHome. The site is designed around at-home rituals accessible to everyone, and features ready-to-download materials to help users celebrate the new year and its holidays… By listening to users’ requests, the team has learned that there’s a demand for ritual interpretation, particularly those that fully embrace women’s contemporary needs…

“On Rosh Hashanah, we think back over the past year and take stock. Some years we look back and say, wow, that was a good year. Other years we say, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and we’re aware of different kinds of inequity and injustice and we feel like there’s a lot of work to do.”

Because I am in the middle of writing a book about my grandmother’s Holocaust story, I am seeing this Rosh Hashanah — and much of my pandemic experience — through the prism of my family’s Holocaust narrative. As this new year dawns on our broken world, I find myself thinking about some of the less-visible suffering inflicted by the Nazis, particularly in the tumultuous early days of the war, before the number “6 million” meant anything.

The challenges of 2020 have been historic. They have caused people all over the world to mourn loved ones, express gratitude toward frontline workers, weigh concerns for what comes next and deal with new and unexpected frustrations. In adapting to these changing circumstances, our Jewish faith teaches us continually to seek out hope, reminding us that we are not alone in these struggles — and that change is both necessary and inevitable.

Shmuel Rosner on the implications of this week’s peace signings between Israel and two more Arab countries.

“We see peace that is signed in a completely different way than what we used to have in the past and what we used to believe was the only path. It’s a new way of looking at how things are done in the Middle East.”

Shmuel Rosner and Rachel Azaria discuss her latest book (out in Hebrew now), on creating a meaningful social change and the key to a successful protest.

“The people who are protesting against Netanyahu are not the people who voted for him, so when they say they will protest until he resigns, this isn’t a real strategic plan.”

“As Rosh Hashanah approaches, the Bagels are hunkering down with some new Jewy series’, and getting contemplative about redemption. Esther, who grew up watching Holocaust movies in school, considers whether documentaries — including one about “Iron Dome” from new streaming service IZZY — might be #toosoon or #tooclose to reality for her, and Erin geeks out over Instagram posts from Broadway actors doing fun impressions including one of Mandy Patinkin.”