Judaism 101

The Jewish national period of mourning.

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The Jewish national period of mourning.

his is not the standard look for someone who attends our shul even if just passing through, especially since there are other shuls on the block that may be considered a better fit. I'll be honest that if someone comes in looking like this, it's usually to collect tzedakah.

Genizah is not overseen by any national rabbinic authority in the United States, and it is a tradition practiced not only in the Orthodox world but by other streams of Judaism as well.

It was obvious I was in the wrong place with the wrong people and I needed to get out of there.

Makom, a branch of the organization Jew In The City (JITC), was founded in 2014 by Allison Josephs, to help Jews who feel they no longer want to stay in their community of birth find a new community of choice – instead of leaving Judaism altogether in frustration.

While his going OTD was painful for his mother, Boruch says she still accepted him – and worried more about the types of people he was hanging with.

Though demography was not an exact science, Jews may have numbered several million in the early Roman Empire.  For more than a century before...

Among them was Aryeh Abramov, 17, who was to leave for a year in Israel two days later. “He was an all-around good person,” Abramov said, “he gave to all of us by always making the minyan, so it’s nice that I can be here and make a minyan for him.”

The author of the book Ronit Treatman, the daughter of Israeli diplomats who speaks several languages and lives in Philadelphia, was inspired to write the book after she became involved with the Bnei Anousim, the tens of millions of people around the world descended from forcibly converted Spanish and Portuguese Jews through the organization Reconectar.

Rabbi Samson will teach a special 32-session course designed for bar mitzvah boys that will provide an overview on the 613 mitzvot, with a concentration on the daily mitzvot such as prayer and those related to Shabbat. A parallel course for bat mitzvah girls will also be offered.

Rav Taragin doesn’t want to distract from the purpose of the program, whose essence is joining members of Klal Yisrael together.

Elie Wiesel was once asked, “Is there a tradition of silence in Judaism?” “Yes,” he answered. ”But we don’t talk about it.”

This pandemic has forced us to redefine “essential” and “non-essential.” With the proper frame of mind, many of us can be empowered in unprecedented ways to sincerely and genuinely sing Dayeinu from the essence of our being.

Saying a shorter version of Kabbalat Shabbat would hardly be unprecedented or a scandalous reform.

In Israel, most people are more careful to stress the end of the word (what’s called “mil’ra”), where it usually belongs for Hebrew words.

I always go far into things. I’ve always been a seeker. I was looking for tranquility, peacefulness, and accomplishment.

Even though her dreams for a perfect wedding had been shattered by her brothers’ boycott, she never resented them or their decision.

When the Stern children wondered why marrying Jewish was so important, their parents struggled to answer.

It didn't take long to understand the depths of the Torah lifestyle.

It becomes quite clear that measured by time, Klal Yisrael values avodas ha’tefillah, serving Hashem through prayer, tremendously.

“I liked Israel, and felt good being Jewish for the first time in my life.”

All of Shabbos centers around this one, primary idea: that we are enjoined to recall and internalize the fact that Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

Here I am with everything. All of my facilities. Youth. Strength. Looks. Money. Degree of talent. Family. Health. And after all of that and more, I think I'm miserable? It can't be. Something's got to change.

The four Stern children reported that the religious observances felt like just that: observances of a culture with little relevance to their modern lives.

Our rav also advised me that given the circumstances, I should not rely on an ordinary Kohen, but should specifically find one with a proven lineage to avoid having to do a third pidyon haben in the future.

Throughout his month in Israel, Kalman realized he had found his home, in the beis medrash and in Eretz Yisrael.

They built the community there. Some of their children hung around, but all of their grandchildren disappeared. They were lost to Judaism. You can’t hand down secular Judaism, bagels-and-lox Judaism, Ken said.

Fast forward to 1977. Larry had already begun to become observant while in graduate school. When his PhD research flopped that year, Larry decided to pack his bags and headed to Eretz Yisrael to work on a kibbutz.