No Lazy Days
Most people have, at one time or another, dreamed of winning the lottery, quitting their jobs and sitting lazily in front of a pool all day. It's a fantasy that for most people, if they…
The Soviet Jewry Movement
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. At first glance, a discussion of the Soviet Jewry Movement may seem like an odd choice for Jewish American history, but the movement had a powerful…
The Strange Tale of Jose Diaz Pimienta
Today’s Jewish Treat brings you the strange tale of Jose Diaz Pimienta (1688-1720) who was burned at the stake in an auto-de-fete in Cadiz (Spain) on July 25, 1720. Although born to…
“No More Pharaohs and No More Slaves”
By the mid-1800s, Jews were settled throughout the United States, and many had absorbed the local culture in which they were living. Among the Jews of the south, there were, therefore,…
Keys To A Happy Marriage
This week the Torah celebrates the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivkah (Isaac and Rebecca). In their honor, Jewish Treats presents to you an excerpt from Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald’s “Keys to a…
Music – This is not your father’s Hava Nagila
Popular Jewish music has become an increasingly diverse market over the last sixty years. What was once limited to cantorial music and klezmer classics has evolved into single artists,…
Labor, Technology and the Torah
Labor celebrations have taken place throughout North America since the 1880s, and Labor Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1894. As students of history are well aware, in the decades…
Telephone, Gramaphone, Helicopter…Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner (May 20, 1851 – August 3, 1929) came to America to avoid being drafted as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War. A native of Hanover, Germany, Berliner had trained as a…
Sarah’s Whereabouts Determine Jewish Law
Parashat Vayeira begins with Abraham convalescing after his circumcision. Unexpectedly, he sees three “visitors,” whom the Midrash identifies as angels, come toward his home. Excited to…
Telephone, Gramaphone, Helicopter…Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner (May 20, 1851 – August 3, 1929) came to America to avoid being drafted as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War. A native of Hanover, Germany, Berliner had trained as a…