The Importance of Dad
Where does a child learn to be a mentsch? From his/her parents! Indeed, in the Talmud (Sukkot 56b) it even notes that a child repeats in the streets what he/she hears at home.…
Elijah – Our Passover and Brit Milah Guest
At the Passover seder, those children who are still awake after the meal watch eagerly to see if the prophet Elijah comes to drink from his special cup...(and adults often shake the table…
Irish Jews
The exile of the Jewish people has taken them to every corner of the earth. Jews have lived in and built communities in Europe, China, India, Central Asia, Africa, South America, North…
Until 120!
Gertrude Baines, age 114, is currently the oldest living human being. That is quite amazing, and yet, it has always been a custom of Jews to wish each other “ad meah v’esrim” - until……
Shemot 5761-2001
"The Not-So-Obvious Process of Enslavement" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this coming week's parasha, parashat Shemot, we begin our annual encounter with the story of the Egyptian…
Progress For Women
On August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect, prohibiting all U.S. states and the Federal government from denying the right to vote to any…
Happy Birthday Maestro!
Not too many people can claim to have entertained the Queen of England, played at a Presidential Inauguration, conducted symphony orchestras, appeared on numerous occasions in Carnegie…
Yente the Yiddish Writer
Yiddish literature entered its modern era in the 1860s, when Jewish writers began using the Germanic-Jewish language to compose stories and poems. Many of the early writers of this era…
Connecting the Words
In honor of “Dictionary Day,” Jewish Treats looks at a renowned Jewish dictionary that has served scholars and students since the turn of the 20th century. A Dictionary of Targumim,…
Berlin’s Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
On May 11, 1820, a child was born in Prussia who, as a grown man, would almost single-handedly change the face of German Jewry. Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer attended yeshiva in Hanover, and…