Hail the Holy Pomegranate
The pomegranate is a funny sort of fruit. Rather than eating the flesh and throwing away the seed, as one does when eating an apple or orange, pomegranate seeds are eaten and the flesh…
Pom-Enjoyment
Make sure to say the proper blessing over your National Pomegranate Month (November) treats: Ha'etz for the fruit, and She'ha'kol for pomegranate drinks.
Spiritual Compass
Tomorrow, November 6th, is yet another odd, seemingly random, holiday that has grown out of the internet age: “Marooned without a Compass Day.” While the name of the day may seem quaint…
Facing Jerusalem
Be sure to face toward the direction of Jerusalem, the spiritual focal point of the world, before beginning to recite the Amidah, the silent devotion prayer. To better appreciate the…
Rabin
Today is the 26th anniversary of the death of Yitzchak Rabin, who was assassinated on November 4, 1995. Born in Jerusalem on March 1, 1922, Rabin grew up in Tel Aviv. He entered the…
The Jews of Panama
The history of the Jews in Panama is similar to Jewish history in other South and Central American countries. Conversos (Jews who publicly recanted the Jewish faith and adopted…
A Jazz Master
While known later in his career as the "King of the Clarinet", some are surprised to learn that Jewish jazz legend Artie Shaw actually got his start playing the saxophone. Today's Jewish…
Toledot 5782-2021
“The Deception of Isaac” (updated and revised from Toledot 5762-2001) by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s parasha, parashat Toledot, we encounter the well-known, and rather…
The First Inquisition
Although it was not the first inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition* was unique from its very inception on November 1, 1478, because it was controlled by a monarch rather than the church.…
National Hermit Day
Judaism is not known for encouraging asceticism. While the Torah commands the Jewish people to “afflict” themselves on Yom Kippur by fasting and refraining from certain pleasurable…