Jewish Treats

Whose First Fruits

When the Oral Law was first codified, most Jews lived in agrarian settings. Today, being less familiar with agrarian culture, some people find it difficult to relate to some of the…

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Jewish Treats

My Kids’ Inheritance

There’s a cute bumper sticker that says “I’m spending my kids’ inheritance.” If you were to ask whether the great Jewish scholars would approve of such an attitude, you might be surprised…

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Jewish Treats

Under Cover of Darkness

Of the ten plagues that devastated the land of Egypt, the plague of darkness appears to be the most benign. Certainly being trapped in the dark is frightening (sensory deprivation is a…

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Jewish Treats

Fasting on Friday

The general rule of Jewish fast days is that they cannot occur on Friday. This rule is meant to protect the joy and happiness of Shabbat, for the sages felt that entering Shabbat hungry…

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Jewish Treats

For The Medal of Honor: The Story of Leonard Kravitz

On March 6, 1951, a platoon of American soldiers serving in the Korean War came under heavy fire by the Chinese Army near Yangpyong, Korea. When the platoon’s Machine Gunner was wounded,…

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Jewish Treats

Heralded With Blessings

The opening prayer of Pesukei D’zimra is Baruch She’amar - Blessed is He who Said. It is a prose poem that uses an anaphora, a literary style in which the same word is repeated at the…

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Jewish Treats

Josephus

Some historians are scholars, others are propagandists, and still others live the history that they go on to record. Yosef ben Matityahu, better known as Flavius Josephus (or just…

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Jewish Treats

The Fast of the 17th of Tammuz

Everyone knows about Yom Kippur. There are, however, several other fast days in the Jewish calendar that are not nearly as well known. Tomorrow, on June 25, the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz…

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Jewish Treats

Can You Spare A Lung

Postmortem organ donations seem like a thoroughly altruistic act. However, from a Jewish perspective, there are certain other issues that must be taken into consideration: 1) Is the…

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Jewish Treats

Can You Be The Tenth?

That the Hebrew word “minyan” derives from the infinitive “lim’not,” to count or number, is not at all surprising. A minyan is a quorum of 10, the smallest number necessary to…

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