Judaism

See fast start and end times for your area.

See Shabbat times for your area.

At the beginning of next week’s Torah portion, God steps forward and validates Pinhas for turning back His wrath from the Israelites, and is granted a covenant of peace and the pact of priesthood.

Balaam understood that family values require effort and that marriage requires effort, restraint and loyalty.

Though the world is not yet ready for the Torah’s version of utopia, we are grateful for even gradual improvements, as society evolves ever closer to that vision. Democracy is a Divine gift.

The Rebbe represents the all-too-rare ability to focus on others and motivate them to be the best neshama they can possibly be.

The parliament’s Committee on Education and Science submitted the proposal June 23 in a draft resolution titled “The Announcement of the Year 2021 as the year of Juozas Luksa-Daumantas.”

The rare find reveals many new things including the Rebbe’s interests, integration and absorption into Sadhora’s communal life and even includes three handwritten signatures.

The first fifteen episodes (season one) will be released on the June 29th premier date, and will cover ancient Israel from 586 BCE until the Jewish dispersal in 1,000 CE.

See Shabbat times for your area.

The epic story of how the Israelis lost, then regained their deterrence.

The description sounds foreign to our modern ears, but this does not mean Western culture is better than ancient rituals.

With a 95% Jewish population, of whom one third are observant, Ashdod’s many synagogues express a wide range of religious and cultural roots, narratives and customs.

See Shabbat times for your area.

As Dr. Shuki Friedman, IDI director of the Center for Religion, Nation and State and a co-author to the report, explained, some of the developments triggered by the crisis are here to stay.

Synagogues should remain free from the political divisiveness overwhelming so many countries around the world.

How are we to know, in situations we encounter in our lives, how to make the right choices?

When once asked whether he was a Zionist, the Rebbe reportedly answered, "If Israel is a state of Jews, then I am not a Zionist, but if it is a Jewish state, then I am a Zionist."

The Rebbe was rumored to be telepathic, and I could certainly vouch for the fact that as far as I was concerned, he certainly was.

The image and vision of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, is as big and broad today as it was 26 years ago.

See Shabbat times for your area.

Mixed marriages are part of Jewish history. In our Israeli and Diaspora societies today, it cannot be stopped.

Why can’t we create a Yom Yerushalayim ritual that contrasts the suffering and the redemption, the dream and the fulfillment?

I have found that students are confused about Modern Orthodoxy and perceive it as some sort of ‘Diet Orthodoxy’.

The commandment of tzitzit is one of the special commandments in the Torah whose purpose is clearly written in a manner that cannot be ignored.

See Shabbat times for your area.

The potency of incense offerings dates back to biblical times. Ketoret was offered twice a day in the Temple, and on Yom Kippur it was brought into the Holy of Holies.

Eldad and Medad, two anonymous people who are never mentioned again in the bible, teach us of the importance of humility and sensitivity as a condition for spiritual distinction.

One of the givens of Judaism is that God continually tests man, sending us challenges that can be emotionally, economically and physically daunting.

Historically, Jews have had an ambiguous relationship with the police.

It seems likely that the plant was used at Arad as a deliberate psychoactive • Levantine frankincense identified for the first time

See Shavuot times for your area.

The unnamed suspect was arrested Tuesday afternoon and is in custody of the McAllen Police Department with charges pending.

In biblical times, Shavuot was primarily an agricultural celebration.

There is a distinctly human tone to Israeli stones as opposed to the desert ‘luchot'

While the husband has all of the power and none of the responsibility, it is possible to see the ritual as having a positive effect for women.

Every day, we decide if we are receiving the Torah and adopting the worldview and lifestyle it proposes.

If the sages considered the Ten Commandments so important, why did they eliminate them from the daily prayers?

This active opportunity to learn Torah and ask questions is the essence of what receiving the Torah is about.

The Conversion Authority is reluctant to perform conversions.

Giyur K’Halacha has become Israel’s leading alternative conversion court network.

The Magazine and Giyur K’Halacha, Israel’s leading nongovernmental conversion court, present personal stories of Israelis who have recently converted to Judaism.

"For my great astonishment I do not have the power to elaborate as I just learned the wall is to be registered as the Arabs' property due to the fear the government would carry out pogroms."

See Shabbat times for your area.

As he planted the seeds for a new anchor of Judaism – Zionism, Herzl recognized the importance of having an elite.

The commandment of tzitzit is for every Jew, and it teaches us that every Jew is part of a framework of identity and belonging, with a purpose and a role.

“I fully believe that the Halacha [Jewish law] has to respond actively and positively to the burning challenges of the times, and, in our days, high on these priorities is the status of women."

Reading the text requires the courage to confront oneself. It means standing in front of a mirror and asking oneself the daunting question of who we really are.

By being confirmed on Shavuot, a teenager in the 1940s was receiving and accepting the Torah as one of the chosen people.

Weissberg’s life is a testament to his passion for learning Torah.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in one of his recent daily news briefings, “Normal is something that’s a long way off.”

In April, as the governor of Texas began reopening the state, the rabbis banded together again, telling their congregants that they all would keep their synagogues closed.

This moment offers the Jewish community an opportunity to reconnect with home Jewish practice.

See Shabbat times for your area.

Rabbi Akiva did it then. We can do it now.

While I remain very interested in these topics, the coronavirus outbreak has highlighted the need for quick halachic answers to new types of questions that have emerged in this period.

Every seventh year, farmers in the Land of Israel must let their fields lie fallow and surrender the harvest to society – Jews and non-Jews – and even to animals.

While Singer said there is “nothing new about Evangelical fundamentalist Christians seeking to convert Jews to Christianity,” he noted that the method that GOD TV is using is “completely novel.”

As an Orthodox Jew and an ordained rabbi, I am fully aware that the Torah and CHAZAL/Rishonim/Achronim/Halacha mandate that we pray every day.

See Shabbat times for your area.

What is missing in our earthly existence that is filled by the sacred?

At the end of the day, as last week’s Torah portion proclaims, Hashem holds most dear the principle in which he packages His halachot and mitzvot: “And you shall live by them.”

See Shabbat times for your area.

Man has the choice of being passive, enjoying the world as a guest, or being active and creative.

Rabbi Prof. Joshua Berman tackles conflict between biblical criticism and traditional beliefs about the Bible’s authorship

The main purpose of bringing a sacrifice is to clear ourselves of sin, exactly as Yom Kippur does for us today.

The main purpose of bringing a sacrifice is to clear ourselves of sin, exactly as Yom Kippur does for us today.

In the 222 pages of the paperback, Peter Bailey tells the fascinating and heroic stories of all 40 recipients of the Medal of Valor

It is not easy for any society to maintain consistent adherence to the demands of its constitution.

Jews from Palestine – including my own father Harry – formed a Palestinian Jewish Diaspora in other parts of the world.

Should there be a separation between shul and state?

We found here a beautiful country, unique in the variety of its scenery and climate.

The uniqueness of Israeliana seems to be that it is the collection of material items produced by a society that may not have been wealthy, but had a powerful sense of ideology.

The curious case of Major Farran’s Hat

“Many people are deeply concerned that the challenges with which our people are wrestling today are leading to greater friction and division than ever before.”

As old connections to Judaism fade, Zionism is turning into a primary manner Diaspora Jews relate to their Judaism.

Stuchiner is a beacon of light in a world darkened by the coronavirus outbreak.

As a child I felt that Talmud is a conversation that links people and creates joy and also has something different from everyday life, something higher and beautiful.

Rivlin says the coronavirus crisis ‘has made us feel more than ever that we are one family with a shared history, shared values and a shared destiny’

While the enemy may be different, “this is very similar to our usual work.”

It has not been easy, it has not been without pain and incredible sacrifice, but it has worked.

Just as morgue workers will need to safely handle corpses of those victims who desire cremation, Jewish burial societies can efficiently and carefully bring our beloved to their final resting spots.

The recorded prayer, fewer than ten minutes long, has since been played in a number of hospital rooms, allowing for patients, even among isolation, to have the prayer read to them.

See Shabbat times for your area.

The month of Iyar is filled with rich ideas focusing on time, making time count and improving who we are.

The closure of synagogues in Israel, the US, in Europe and elsewhere has raised questions about alternative strategies including online prayer services and online Jewish education.

The strict barriers put up between impurity and holiness mean that throughout their lives, humans will invariably be barred from approaching God’s presence in the holiest of places.

When we examine these Torah readings, we must start with a basic premise: These were not contagious illnesses, and the purification process did not include any acts that were hygienic or medical.

The Kaddish reminds us of all that is holy and eternal in our lives and in the lives of those that have passed on.

American synagogues have been conducting services virtually — or not at all — for more than a month.

“I’m still young, I want to live”; even in their darkest hour, the prisoners of the Nazi camps wrote songs of hope.

See Shabbat times for your area.

THE INAUGURATION of the State of Israel on the fifth of Iyar is akin to the inauguration of the Tabernacle on the first of Nissan – the beginning of a new era of Judaism.