Symbolic Foods

Since Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment, it is customary to eat simanim,* foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God's blessing. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…

Read More

The Mourner’s Kaddish

Jewish belief in the afterlife is affirmed in almost all of the Jewish rituals of mourning. Of these, by far the best known is the recitation of the Kaddish prayer by the mourner. In…

Read More

Symbolic Foods

Since Rosh Hashana is the day of judgement, it is customary to eat simanim,* foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God's blessing. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…

Read More

You Say Tomay’to, I Say Tomah’to

Just as Jews from different countries have different ritual customs, so too do their prayerbooks have slight but important variations. The different formats of the prayer service is known…

Read More

The Blessings of the Amidah: Accept Our Prayers

The nineteen blessings of the Amidah make up the core of the Jewish prayer service. The seventeenth blessing begins the final section of the Amidah, the section in which we express our…

Read More

Symbolic Foods

Since Rosh Hashana is the day of judgement, it is customary to eat simanim,* foods with symbolic meanings that invoke God's blessing. We also recite a short prayer before eating them.…

Read More

Praying In Many Ways

Many nutritionists recommend that a person should have three square meals a day to maintain his/her physical well-being. Spiritual nutritionists (our sages) recommend that for the utmost…

Read More

Tzav 5765-2005

"Do Sacrifices Have Any Relevance for Us Today?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Tzav, continues the Torah's description of the various sacrifices that were…

Read More

The Thanksgiving Synagogue Service

While Thanksgiving is most certainly an American festival of gratitude, its founders prominently articulated its religious underpinnings, which ultimately find their source in Judaism.…

Read More

For Dew and Rain

As indicated by Jewish prayer, the rainy season in the land of Israel begins just after the holiday of Sukkot and ends at the start of Passover. During this time, there are two special…

Read More