The Passover Story in Brief
On Passover, we commemorate the Exodus from Egyptian slavery. The following is a brief summary: Jacob's family came to Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. Joseph, Jacob's son and the…
What’s In The Book: Jonah
The Book of Jonah is one of the best known stories in the Bible and is read on Yom Kippur because of its powerful message of repentance: God instructs Jonah to go to the Assyrian city of…
No Holiday As Joyous
Tu b’Av (The Fifteenth of Av) is no longer the well-known holiday on the Jewish calendar that it was in ancient times. In fact, in Talmudic times it was said: “There were no holidays so…
Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried and the Abridged Code of Law
When rabbinic authorities make halachic (Jewish legal) rulings, they generally consult the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), a compendium of halacha written in 1563 by Rabbi Joseph…
The Passover Story in Brief
On Passover, we commemorate the Exodus from Egyptian slavery. The following is a brief summary: Jacob's family came to Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. Joseph, Viceroy to Pharoah,…
A Ship’s Tale
Well sit right back and I’ll tell a tale...Alas, this ship’s tale is no three-hour tour, but the story of the birth of Jewish life in North America. It is well-known that the first…
Nimrod
The great military villains have usually been brilliant, determined and, it is often suggested, megalomanic. In which case they are very much the spiritual descendants of Nimrod. Nimrod,…
The Passover Story in Brief
On Passover, we commemorate the Exodus from Egyptian slavery. The following is a brief summary: Jacob's family came to Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. Joseph, Viceroy to Pharoah,…
Hannah and Her Sons
The story of Hannah and her seven sons is the story of the Jewish resistance to Antiochus’ attempts to Hellenize the Jewish people around 175 B.C.E. When Antiochus demanded that Hannah’s…
The Fast Of Gedaliah (Tzom Gedaliah)
The Fast of Gedaliah is observed to commemorate the murder of Gedaliah the son of Achikam, which is described in the last chapter of the Second Book of Kings. This murder resulted in…