A tambourine-lover with creative tactics meant to take congregants outside of their comfort zone, Rabbi RuthE Levy of Mountain Synagogue in Franklin doesn’t mess around when it comes to musical shabbat. 

Known in Hebrew as Shabbat Shirah, this service takes place at the beginning of the harvest season, long before the Jewish holiday of Passover — the latter holiday at the start of April 2026, the former portion in late February — but it tells a well-known Passover story.

Some people eat to live, and others live to eat. I fall into the latter camp, which is why I’ve been both confused and fascinated by the fasting trend that has flooded the health and wellness movement in the last few years. To temporarily deprive oneself of food in service of a larger goal — for some, weight loss; for others, metabolic health or mental clarity — is the kind of challenge that borders on unreasonable. To me, fasting ranks just below ice baths in terms of appeal. 

When it comes to the rich, vibrant history of Haywood County Fair, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone as passionate and knowledgeable on the subject as Alex McKay. 

“I think what people here now take for granted is that, for so long, Haywood County was farming and agriculture,” McKay said. “And a lot of that is physically disappearing.” 

The long and storied tradition that is the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games returns to MacRae Meadows on Thursday, July 10, continuing through Sunday, July 13. 

The Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center in Waynesville has recently announced its 2025 “Pigeon Community Conversations with Storytellers Series.” 

The Appalachian Women’s Museum “Airing of the Quilts” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the museum in Dillsboro. 

I wish to respond in a general way to the two columns on the Opinion page of the Dec. 27-Jan 2024 edition of The Smoky Mountain News — to Scott McLeod’s and to guest columnist Rob Schofield’s. 

Once upon a Christmas, our children came creeping down the stairs before dawn like little burglars.

A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, the 49th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.