Jewish Treats

This Tomato Was Grown Where?

The view of Judaism is that humankind has the unique ability to synthesize the physical and the spiritual elements of life. Hence, Jewish law requires Jews to recite a blessing over food…

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Jewish Treats

The 25th of Kislev

It is not uncommon to find that significant events in Jewish history occurred in different years, but on the same date on the Jewish calendar. For instance, Tisha B’Av (9th of Av), the…

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Jewish Treats

The Fast of the Fifth of Tevet

Aside from Yom Kippur, which is mentioned in the Torah, all the other fasts on the Jewish calendar are rabbinic in nature and find their rabbinic source in a single scriptural verse:…

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Jewish Treats

International Holocaust Memorial Day

Speak of the Holocaust, and the first word that many think of is Auschwitz. It was, and is, the most infamous of the concentration camps established by the Nazis. In fact, Auschwitz was…

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Jewish Treats

Seven Days to the Sea

The Passover celebration lasts seven days in Israel and eight days, outside of Israel. (For more information as to why, please click here). The first day (and second, outside of Israel)…

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Jewish Treats

Lag Ba’Omer

The period of mourning* (for the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who died of plague) that is associated with Sefirat Ha’Omer, is observed on the 33rd day of the Omer, a day known as Lag…

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Jewish Treats

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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Jewish Treats

Lions and Jerusalem Day

The original city of Jerusalem, conquered by King David from the Jebusites, is now known as Ir David, situated in the Silwan neighborhood, south of the Temple Mount. Over time, Jerusalem…

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Jewish Treats

The Book of Ruth

Ruth was the Moabite wife of Machlon, one of the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi, a wealthy Hebrew couple who had fled Bethlehem during a bitter famine. Elimelech’s family had settled in…

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Jewish Treats

In Arkansas

Jewish life in Arkansas began in 1825 with the arrival of Abraham Block to the town of Washington in Hempstead County, Arkansas. For Block and his family, however, it was a very lonely…

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