Many Americans have lost touch with the origins of Thanksgiving. When you ask someone to explain the reason for the holiday, they often link the holiday to American ideals like democracy, pluralism and freedom of religion. Since most Americans live their lives far removed from agriculture, few remember that Thanksgiving grew out of the same…
Before I moved to Israel I was always puzzled by the ending to the Book of Jonah, read on Yom Kippur as part of the mincha service. As you might recall, Jonah is upset at God for pardoning the city of Nineveh, and he says: “Please, Lord, take my life, for I would rather die than…
The school year in Israel runs from Sept. 1 through June 30. Israeli kids especially look forward to hahofesh ha-gadol (“the big vacation,” as summer break is universally called here), because they go to school six days a week. So during the school year they seldom get a chance to sleep over at a friend’s…
A century of my family’s living in Brooklyn came to an end a few months ago, when my parents moved out of their Flatbush home of 41 years to the Gurwin Jewish Assisted Living Community in Commack, NY. My paternal grandparents, who married in 1917, raised four children in Brooklyn, three of whom elected to…
The almond tree is blooming And a golden sun does shine Birds from every rooftop Announce the festive time Tu B’Shevat is here – the festival of trees! Above is the first stanza of the most well-known song for Tu B’Shevat (there are two other stanzas, both hardly known). Though the words to this song…
My son, Elie, is a graduate of Yeshivat Noam High School. In Israel, with so many public religious secondary schools to choose from, you have the luxury of looking for a school that matches your child’s personality. Each of our five children went to different secondary schools. Elie and Yeshivat Noam were the best fit….
The following is my free translation based on the work of my friend and teacher, Rabbi Lior Engelman. When we were children it was clear which of the Hanukkah candles was the most important: the shamash, the “helper” candle. It is the most prominent and tallest candle – it is one of a kind. The…
In the Book of Leviticus, Moses tells the Israelites that beginning on the 15th day of the seventh month (counting from Nissan, the month containing Passover), “You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live…
As part of the spiritual accounting that characterizes the period of the High Holy Days, we are invited to survey ourselves and ask honestly: In relation to last year, has our spiritual condition improved or worsened; were the hopes that we expressed during last year’s High Holy Days – that there would be a change…
Jews around the world are familiar with the fall holidays: a three-week period beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Simchat Torah. However, only in Israel is Passover the beginning of another three-week holiday period. A few days after the end of Passover, Israel observes Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), which this year is on Thursday,…
