Newsletter ~ Oct. 4, 2026 ~ Simchat Torah ~ 23 Tishrei 5787

New stories and Community Event flyers, including Oct. 4 Simchat Torah celebrations this morning. Three years ago, the attack of October 7 fell on Simchat Torah. This year we celebrate the holiday with both bitter and sweet, dancing with the Torah on Sunday and gathering in remembrance on Wednesday, Oct.

The Séance Now Near You

Story and Photos by Paul Ross One of THE big questions — right up there after “What is the Meaning of Life?”— is “Is There Life After Death?” Most religions have answers but seances try to put you in touch with the only ones who really know: the dead. And now

Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival

VISIT the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival https://www.santafejff.org/ to buy tickets, sign up for the email, and learn about the season's films SUNDAY NOV. 15 3:30 PM at the CCA Santa Fe BUY TICKETS Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival The Long Journey Home "

Flamenco’s Outsider Roots, and How to Watch It Like an Insider

Story & Photos by Paul Ross In Mel Brooks’ remake of legendary director Ernst Lubitsch’s classic WWII dark comedy “To Be Or Not To Be,” a struggling Polish theatrical company learns that their Nazi occupier’s latest ban prohibits “Jews, Gypsies, and Homosexuals” from the theater. Upon hearing this,

Simchat Torah, everything seems to loosen.

By Misha Sauceda We come in everyday clothes—worn jeans, scuffed sneakers, T-shirts, warm hoodies. Children play in the Social hall. We talk and laugh. The atmosphere feels charged, different from an ordinary Shabbat morning. Then all the Torahs come out. Usually, opening the ark is a special moment.

Learn the meaning of loss ratio

By Merilee Dannemann | Triple Spaced Again If you have never heard of the term “loss ratio,” consider yourself lucky. That means you have never had to learn a certain unpleasant truth.  “Loss ratio” means how much insurance companies have to pay for losses and other expenses compared to how much

Pay our legislators and demand ethical behavior: Support Constitutional Amendment 4

By Sherry Robinson | All She Wrote After years of debate, voters will have the chance to weigh in on a paid Legislature in Constitutional Amendment 4. In all the pros and cons so far, however, nobody has raised the big question: Who benefits by having volunteer legislators? Supporters (mostly Democrats)

It's Time to Really Raise The Roof!

RSVP BY OCT. 7th: RAISE THE ROOF on Oct. 11 Congregation B'nai Israel invites the community to RAISE THE ROOF, a good old-fashioned HOEDOWN on Sunday, October 11, 2026.  The lively community-oriented event, featuring square dancing and a barbecue, is a fund-raiser for B’nai

OCTOBER 7th Commemoration ALBUQUERQUE & SANTA FE

Gatherings of remembrance Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m. in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Free; registration required, and locations are shared upon registration. REGISTER HEREREGISTER HERETIP JARRETURN TO HOME HERE FOR MORE STORIES Community Supporters of the NM Jewish Journal include: Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico Congregation

OCT. 22 Thurs. 6:30-8:30 "SHINE" SISTERHOOD CELEBRATION An evening of friendship, connection and a little sparkle

RSVP: SHINE A Sisterhood Celebration - free

Chavurat HaMidbar Fellowship of the Desert

chavurahabq.org Chavurat Hamidbar Fellowship of the Desert The Chavurah is an egalitarian, eclectic-traditional community without a building or paid professional functionary. Our prayer leaders and Torah readers are both men and women. Our prayer books and bibles (Sim Shalom, Revised Plaut, New Machzor) are issued by various movements,

Jonah, The “Whale,” and What Causes, Prolongs, and May Ease Depression

By Judith Fein  “Oh Jonah he lived in a whale. He made his home in that fish’s abdomen,” sings Spo’tin’ Life in the song “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy & Bess.” In familiar adaptations of the Pinocchio story, the wooden puppet and