The Rav with the Golden Carriage
The Talmud, which is the written compilation of the Oral Torah, records the discussions and decisions of the scholars who codified Jewish law. Without question, the scholastic scope of…
Wearing White for Shabbat
It is a well-known custom that Jews wear white on Yom Kippur in order to reflect the purity of angels on that holy day. It is a lesser known custom that Jews wear white at the Passover…
For the Refugees
Oftentimes, one thinks of refugees as people who were forced from their homes. Most refugees, however, are not specifically expelled, but rather forced to flee due to increasingly…
Cohen, Katz, Kagen
Meet a man named Cohen and it is fair to assume that he is a descendant of the priestly tribe, going all the way back to Aharon the High Priest. We all know that there are distinctly…
Chinese Tiles and Jewish Ladies
It is a well-known joke that Jews have a particular affinity for Chinese food, especially on a certain legal holiday in December. But there is another surprising connection of…
Philosophical Dialogue
Spain in the early Middle Ages was a breeding ground for philosophers. As the peninsula shifted from Christian control to Muslim and back to Christian again, philosophy became the common…
A Document Against Anti-Semitism
Fifty-two years ago on this day, October 28th, the Catholic Church officially stopped blaming the Jewish people for the death of Jesus. This ground-breaking statement came after more than…
Here Kitty, Kitty
While today, the two most common types of house pets are cats and dogs, the sages of the Talmud questioned the issue of safety regarding the ownership of these animals. In general, most…
A Candy Treat
While most people would not be surprised at the Jewish back-story of Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews, they might not realize just how deeply involved Jews were in the early American…
Vanity of Vanities
Most people are unknowingly familiar with the beginning of the third chapter of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) because of the 1962 hit song by The Byrds: "To everything - turn, turn,…