Who Was Rabbi Akiva?
Akiva ben Yosef was once an ignorant and illiterate shepherd. So poor and downtrodden a figure was Akiva that his extremely wealthy father-in-law disinherited Akiva’s wife, Rachel, for…
Calligraphy
In honor of National Handwriting Day, Jewish Treats explores the unique calligraphy practiced by a Jewish sofer (scribe). The Hebrew letters used in a Torah scroll, as well as on other…
Returning
One of the dominant themes of the High Holiday season is repentance. In Hebrew, repentance is known as teshuva and it is a multi-tiered process that requires more than just feeling bad…
Annulment of Vows
"I swear that this time I will lose weight""I am going to pray every day..."We make promises all the time. We swear that we are going to do something, and then hope that we will be in a…
The Incomplete Repentance
“Repentance” sounds like a grand and powerful word. In truth, the most important adjective that must be attached to the act of repentance is the word “sincere.” At one time or another,…
Communicating with God
There is an old joke in which the President of the United States receives an exorbitant phone bill after calling God, while the Prime Minister of Israel gets to call God as a free local…
Honoring The Boss
According to Wikipedia, in the United States and Canada, October 16 is the traditional day for employees to thank their bosses. In honor of “Boss’s Day,” Jewish Treats presents wise words…
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the Father of Modern Hebrew
The official language of Israel is Hebrew, but until the end of the 19th century almost no one spoke Hebrew colloquially. Lashon Hakodesh, the holy tongue, was used only for prayer…
Forgiveness: An Elul Treat
Many feel that the three hardest words to say are: “I am sorry.” Yet, we all know how very important those words are. Indeed, saying one is sorry, or at least admitting one’s guilt, is a…
Thou Shalt Not Anoint
The observance of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, calls for abstention from five activities: eating/drinking, anointing, washing oneself, wearing leather shoes and marital relations.…