Jewish Treats

National Freedom Day

Not many people are aware that today, February 1st, is National Freedom Day in the United States. National Freedom Day was initially advocated for by Major Richard Robert Wright Sr…

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Jewish Treats

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai and the City of Yavne

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai lived during the tumultuous times when the Jewish residents of Judea rebelled against Rome, and the Romans besieged and then destroyed Jerusalem. At the time,…

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Jewish Treats

How Elvis Was Jewish

Do a websearch on “Jewish Elvis,” and you will be astounded at what you find. Born on January 8, 1935, Elvis Aaron Presley was the great-grandson of Martha Tacket, who is reported to have…

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Jewish Treats

Everyone Does The Wave

One of the main mitzvot of the holiday of Sukkot is the waving of the four species: citron (etrog), palm, myrtle and willow. Trying to understand this mitzvah metaphorically, our sages…

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Jewish Treats

Remembering the Akeida

In neither of the two Torah references to the holiday of Rosh Hashana (Leviticus 23:23-25, Numbers 29:1), is there a specific mention of the shofar, the ram's horn. Only…

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Jewish Treats

Who Drinks the Water?

It’s a classic ethical dilemma: Two people are lost in the desert with only one water bottle. There is not enough water for both people to reach civilization. Who gets the water, or do…

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Jewish Treats

Why Vow?

The framework of Jewish life is set by Jewish law. And, while Jewish law covers almost all aspects of life, there is a great deal of latitude for personal choice within Jewish law. That…

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Jewish Treats

Shabbat in the Spring

As spring takes hold of the northern hemisphere, and the hours between sunrise and sunset lengthen, people often spend the long Shabbat afternoon enjoying the outdoors. Even as one soaks…

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Jewish Treats

From Them I Learned

Our modern media culture likes to “label” successful people: The richest person, the prettiest person, the person of the year, and etc. And because our culture is so influenced by the…

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Jewish Treats

Give Them A Choice

There is an oft-cited Midrash (Sifrei, Dvarim 343) describing how God offered the Torah to the other nations of the world before He gave it to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.…

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