Study and Grow

Emulate the great Sephardi Torah scholar, Rabbi Ezra Attiyah, and always set aside time for serious Torah study. For those exploring Jewish study who feel overwhelmed by the breath of…

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A Scholar and a Playwright

As the epicenter of the Renaissance, Italy was filled with great centers of learning and creativity during the middle centuries of the last millennium. In one of these great centers of…

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Albania and the Jews

Albania, which today marks its Independence Day, is a small Balkan country with an almost minute Jewish population. While it was never a country with a large Jewish population, there have…

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Carrot and Sweet Potato Tzimmes

TraditionalCarrot and Sweet Potato Tzimmes Ingredients: 1 bunch carrots, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces 6 sweet potatoes…

Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement

The Mussar movement, the formal study and program of ethical improvement, was developed in the mid-nineteenth century by Rabbi Israel Salanter (1810-1883, his family name was Lipkin but…

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“Prohibition” and the Jews

Today is “Repeal Day,” referring to the repeal of “Prohibition”, the infamous 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 18th Amendment went into effect nation-wide on January…

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Jews and Chocolate Chips

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day, not to be confused with National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, which falls annually on August 4th. Legend maintains that chocolate chips, also known as…

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Labor, Technology and the Torah

Labor celebrations have taken place throughout North America since the 1880s, and Labor Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1894. As students of history are well aware, in the decades…

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Reunited and It Feels So Good!

Have you missed the unity with our Israeli brothers and sisters these past three-and-a- half months? Has our non-alignment bothered you? When the first day of Passover falls on Shabbat,…

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Live Long And Prosper

Every "Trekkie" knows that Spock’s Vulcan salutation is accompanied by a strange hand gesture. What many don’t realize is that Leonard Nimoy borrowed this symbol from his traditional…

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