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According to talmudic sages, “It is forbidden to live in a town which has no garden or greenery.” (Kiddushin 4:12; 66d) (photo by A. Christen) Many contemporary Jews look upon Tu b’Shevat as a Jewish Earth Day, a day for…
In Israel, Tu b’Shevat is a day for planting saplings. (photo from JNF via israel21c.org) “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.” This lovely quotation is not from our sages, but is an…
Left to right: Archbishop JohnMichael Miller, Dr. Gregg Gardner, Fr. Nick Meisl, Dr. Jay Eidelman and RabbiJonathan Infeld. (photo by Rabbi Adam Stein) “This is a unique opportunity to learn and growtogether. What better way to open ourselves to that…
(photo from Joy) An old folk proverb says, “Chanukah latkes teach us that one cannot live by miracles alone.” Jewish food writer and cookbook author Joan Nathan contends that the word latke is not Yiddish, as everyone presumes, but stems…
(photo by Brandon Martin-Anderson) According to my research, some type of pancakes was made by ancient Greeks and Romans, or even earlier; Christians made them before Lent to use up foods they could not otherwise consume. The earliest pancakes were…
Moving into a condominium forced the writer to modify how she approached the holiday season, including the purchase of an electric chanukiyah. (photo by Libby Simon) For Jews, the celebrations of Chanukah arrive on Sunday evening, Dec.2, and close on…
(photo by Jon Sullivan) In the village of Chelm, just before every Chanukah, the ancient debate begun by the two great rabbis Hillel and Shammai resumed. Do you start the festival by lighting one candle and counting up, or with…
“The Triumph of Judas Maccabeus” by Peter Paul Rubens, between 1634 and 1636. (photo from Wikimedia Commons) One of the richest statements found in the Talmud about the meaning of Jewish identity is the following: “He who does not feel…
The light of our chanukiyot must shine as a commitment to discovering a Judaism of ideas and values as an integral part of our journey. (photo by David Williss) Chanukah is a holiday with an identity crisis. From the beginning,…
Mattathias and the Apostate (1 Maccabees 2:1-25) in Gustave Doré’s English Bible 1866. The time has not yet come when we no longer need the warrior Maccabee. (photo from Wikimedia Commons) Before the rebirth of the modern state of Israel…
