"There seems to be a theme in the album, not intentional, and it’s funny because for somebody who is not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs," says legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon.

"Just like oil gives light into a dark room, just like it brings warmth; for a Jew, it also brings warmth and light into his own personal life and into the world as a whole," says Rabbi Mendy Bukiet.

“It’s an expression of the love for our Torah, our teachings. It’s also a great way to begin the New Year,” says Rabbi Ravid Shnever, spiritual leader of Kehila Chadasha and the Am Kolel Jewish Renewal Center of Greater Washington.

“We think of 9/11 every day,” says Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights. “All you do when it comes to the anniversary, you try to look back and say have I made a difference?”

What is the common denominator when it comes to the melodies of Jewish klezmer music and African-American gospel music? Soul.

Purim is a bittersweet holiday with a powerful spiritual message, says Rabbi Gil Steinlauf of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC. A story about Esther that seems to be all about chance is really about "God's presence working itself out in ways we can't quite understand."

Jewish singer and songwriter Debbie Friedman, who died in California on January 9, once said that "spiritually if you don't have the opportunity to exercise your heart and soul you don't really fully understand all that you are."

Hanukkah is "a good time to think about the miracles in our own lives," according to scholar and author Erica Brown of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

At Manhattan High School for Girls, students are learning what Jewish law teaches about gossip, rumors, and evil speech.

Watch more of producer Susan Goldstein's interview with writer Pamela Greenberg, whose new translation of the Book of Psalms is being praised for its literary beauty.