Ezer K’Negdo
Today’s Treat begins with a short, sweet story about the great Tzaddik of Jerusalem, Rabbi Aryeh Levine, and his wife, Hannah. One day, Mrs. Levine hurt her foot and needed to see a…
Hail the Holy Pomegranate
The pomegranate is a funny sort of fruit. Rather than eating the flesh and throwing away the seed, as one does when eating an apple or orange, pomegranate seeds are the parts that are…
Sigd, The Ethiopian Holiday
While most of the Jews of Ethiopia–the Beta Israel, as the Ethiopian community is properly called, have made aliyah and rejoined the global Jewish community, they have their own unique…
Isaac, Son of Abraham
Born to aged parents (Sarah was 90, Abraham was 100), Isaac was Abraham’s sole heir. This meant more than inheriting his wealth, it meant becoming the leading advocate of monotheism.…
World Hello Day
In 1973, Brian and Michael McCormack created "World Hello Day" as a reaction to the Yom Kippur War. College students at the time, the McCormack brothers started a campaign encouraging…
These Lights We Kindle
While the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is an outward-focused mitzvah – the menorah is lit in a window or doorway – it is also an opportunity for personal reflection on the deeper…
Chanukah Yum
While Jewish holidays are known for their food (except Yom Kippur, of course), most of them are not known for being particularly healthy. Chanukah is no exception. Forget matzah or…
The Tenth of Tevet, Asarah b’Tevet
And it was in the ninth year of [King Zeddekiah’s] reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth (day) of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came, he and all his legions, upon…
Rights in Connecticut
At the time that Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution on January 9, 1788, the fifth state of the United States was not particularly welcoming to Jews or anyone else who was not…
A Jar of Manna
As discussed in this week’s Torah Portion, parashat B’shalach, while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, there were few things more miraculous than the manna, the food from heaven…