Jewish Treats

From Them I Learned

Our modern media culture likes to "label" successful people: The richest person, the prettiest person, the person of the year and etc. And because our culture is so influenced by the…

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Jewish Treats

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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Jewish Treats

Goshen, Egypt

After recording the dramatic rendezvous between Joseph and his brothers, Jacob’s move to Egypt and Joseph’s brilliant economic plan, the very last verse in parashat Vayigash records the…

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Jewish Treats

Rabbi Tarfon

Studying the Talmud is a most exciting adventure that introduces a person to a host of intriguing historic personalities who had a profound impact on Jewish life. With so many different…

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Jewish Treats

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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Jewish Treats

The Importance of Fences

Transmitting words of wisdom to leaders of future generations, the Men of the Great Assembly advised: “Make a fence for the Torah” (Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers 1:1), which alludes…

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Jewish Treats

Mourning Jerusalem I: A Brief History of the First Temple

Today, Jews all over the world are observing the fast of Tisha b’Av. It is on this day that the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. The First Temple…

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Jewish Treats

Cut Off

"...Be as scrupulous in performing a 'minor' mitzvah as a 'major' one, for you do not know the reward given for the respective mitzvot. Calculate the...reward of a sin against its cost"…

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Jewish Treats

Keeping Ethical

Pirkei Avot is commonly translated as Ethics of Our Fathers because many of its statements focus on ethical behavior. For those striving to be ethical, “Nittai the Arbelite says:…

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Jewish Treats

Mourning Jerusalem I: A Brief History of the First Temple

Today, Jews all over the world are observing the fast of Tisha b’Av. It is on this day that the Jewish people mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples. The…

Read More