Judaism

This week, in parashat Va’era, we begin to read about the exodus from Egypt. Most of the story is devoted to the 10 plagues, the 10 supernatural phenomena that afflicted Egypt.

Every family’s story can speak for all of us on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Those of us who pray regularly can’t help but ask whether prayer works, as if “works” is defined by whether the entire universe bent to your wishes and desires, based on your simple request.

Only when we are confident in the possibility of reality being better can we wholeheartedly devote ourselves to repairing humanity.

At 17, Hila Schlakman is the youngest female to have completed the seven year study of the Talmud.

Elior Koroghli is the great-granddaughter of MH King Monivong, who ruled Cambodia until 1941.

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Two strangers, one who encountered Joseph and another who encountered Herzl, lead them to their brethren and change Judaism.

Engelberg brings a modern view to the ancient world of animal sacrifice, leprosy

Jacob’s and Joseph’s life stories are also amazingly similar. They both find themselves in a foreign country following an altercation with their brothers; they both work for a foreign master, etc.

The couple belongs to the Abayudaya community, which the State of Israel does not recognize as a part of the Jewish religion.

The Chief Rabbinate has for a long time however refused to grant kashrut licenses for restaurants which open on Shabbat.

Jacob wanted to help his descendants as they faced a very problematic culture - that of Egypt.

Some years ago, I had the privilege of teaching Torah to a large group in the original Chochmei Lublin yeshiva – it was then a nursing school; it now has been returned to the Jewish community.

We will not accomplish everything, but as 2020 starts, we should jump from the starting line and demonstrate what we are capable of doing.

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

Among the activities put on by AMIA were several concerts by Jewish bands and communal candle lighting ceremonies.

In Judaism, light has many interconnected meanings

The 13th seven-and-a-half year cycle of daf yomi will be completed this coming week.

While that story has become a foundational part of the holiday, there are actually many clear reasons that led to the establishment of Hanukkah.

The days of Hanukkah are the darkest of the year

These brave little lights flicker on every windowsill in Jerusalem

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

Yehudit and her husband Rabbi Shneur Raitport are the Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in Myanmar, who have recently made the country the umpteenth nation in the world where representatives of the Hasidic group are supporting and fostering Jewish life.

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

These are the Jewish stories that most captured our attention in 2019.

The tradition likely began on the Lower East Side in Manhattan in the 20th century, when Jewish and Chinese Americans lived in close to each other.

The custom-designed piece created by Estate Diamond Jewelry is valued at $70,000.

Each family brought a hanukkiah and a picture of a deceased family member who donated their organs when they died.

UAE embassies in the UK, the US and France took to Twitter to wish Jews around the world a happy Hanukkah.

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

Spending weeks on end rehearsing as the front end of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer did nothing to increase my love of the festive season.

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

Meir, the daughter of an Israeli doctor who moved to Sweden and later to the US, joined the ISS crew in September. Two weeks later, she participated in the first all-female spacewalk.

Family members and supporters of all three of the market goers that lost their lives that day showed up for the ceremony.

Politicians and celebrities tweeted in celebration of Hanukkah.

Watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman light the first Hanukkah candle at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Happy Hanukkah from The Jerusalem Post.

The event is the first of its kind to be held since the inauguration of the new Ukrainian government, including Jewish President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Show friends and family you love them a whole latke

On Tuesday, The Nosher Jewish food site launched a hotline where readers can get all their latkes-related questions answered by Jewish food expert Shannon Sarna.

The Jerusalem Post visited the biggest sufganiyot (doughnut) makers in Jerusalem.

Yosef trusted that minister when he asked him to remember him, and for that was punished with two additional years in prison!

Every single flame on every hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah) is a small victory, a reminder of the triumph of good over evil throughout history.

All of Thau’s hanukkiot are purely decorative. Most would be a fire hazard if lit. Some are not even kosher for use and some are made with magnetic parts.

The French aliyah to Jerusalem has brought plenty of patisseries and boulangeries all the way from Paris to not too far from Paris Square.

I am proud to say that since this realization (thanks, Hillel!), my life has changed. I have put yes back into my vocabulary — and, what’s more, I don’t even feel that guilty about it!

Herzl’s interpretation of Jacob’s conflict also is indicative of his own.

Faith in God allows us to see beyond the horizon; to see the light at the end of the tunnel, even when that light is still hidden.

The air was full of excitement and curiosity in Tel Aviv last night as the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra took the stage with cast members of the West End's We Will Rock You musical.

Judah, of course, did not intend to express gratitude to Tamar for what she had done. He meant to admit the truth.

The story of Sodom reminds us that when pride takes hold of a society, evil follows.

The truth waits to be collected with due respect.

This is not a time of self-flagellation, but our chance to take a realistic look at with what spiritual food we nourish our soul.

This commandment expresses the farmer’s Jewish compassion that gives him the responsibility for others’ fate.

There was a time when Egypt “hosted you at a time of dire need” (Rashi). We cannot forget this time, and therefore we are forbidden from despising the Egyptians.

‘People need laws and need to be judged by these laws in order to get along.’

Even after idolatry seemingly disappeared from our lives – we see that it actually hasn’t

“Jerusalem was destroyed because they based their judgments [strictly] on the Torah law and did not go beyond the strict requirements of the law” (Bava Metzia 30).

These sermons delivered in the hell of the Warsaw Ghetto act as a unique yahrzeit candle to a lofty and sacred world.

The person who builds an altar is trying to be different from everyone else. The entire Jewish people brings sacrifices to the Temple, but he builds an altar for sacrifices in his home.

Everyone is welcome to climb up and whoever makes the effort will attain results.

Although learning Torah is counted as one of the Torah’s commandments, it stands alone and unique above all the other commandments.

The ‘highest level’ of charity per Maimonides is not to support the poor financially, but to prevent a person from becoming poor.

Judaism sees the proper and respectful treatment of a person’s dead body as an expression of human dignity.

Every person in the community has the ability to attain this exalted status of holiness.

If we look closely, the demand is not only that we act righteously, but that we also give others the benefit of the doubt.

The Jewish people was not created naturally, and its belonging to natural history is not simple in the least. This is a nation that was created miraculously.

There’s another reason we read Parashat Zachor.

By keeping kosher, we become holy, and thus we merit God’s holiest love and protection. And since the Mishkan symbolized holiness, this parasha was written as part of the topics relating to holiness.

One does not need to be a vegetarian to be able to identify with the basic principle that shedding blood is not a decent moral virtue.

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, deals mostly with an interesting and surprising area: clothing design for the Temple priests.

A proper look at laws of slavery in the Torah teaches us that there is a direct connection between the laws of the Torah and the feelings of a person who sees slavery as immoral.

It is detrimental to Jewish tradition to transform words into fixed clusters of thought and the storing up of whole theories.

The binding of Isaac and the tragic God.

Man’s creation is ‘hachnasat orhim’ in the deepest sense we can imagine.

This story raises a basic question: Why was it forbidden for Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge?

Every child knew that the Torah was accessible to all and that there is no obstacle for anyone thirsty for Jewish knowledge.

[Judaism] is not afraid of the power of nature because it sees it as an expression of God’s benevolence.

Now the time has come for us to board anew our ‘ship of life’

Being a Jew is undoubtedly an obligation... but we mustn’t see Judaism as a heavy burden.

A true leader puts the nation’s needs ahead of his own and the nation’s hopes ahead of his personal ones.

We must remember that we have not yet reached our destination.

Mature adults are expected to recognize the importance of ideological commitment and to see moments of vacation as a break meant for reenergizing themselves for a higher purpose.

Parashat VeYikra

A Jewish approach to war and peace

Parashat Beshalah

We think, plan, try to steer the course of our lives. This is all good; but alongside this rational, thoughtout plan, there is a smidgen of doubt, something that shakes our self-confidence.

Often, our sins stem from an error in our self-image.

This week’s Torah portion, Toldot, presents one of the many stories in Genesis dealing with the beauty of a woman and the resulting danger.

One of the great Jewish philosophers of the 19th century was Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-88), a German Orthodox rabbi.

When God informed Noah of the upcoming flood, he did not approach his peers and try to persuade them to improve their ways.