Hanukkah: From Battleground to Festival of Lights
The Hebrew word Hanukkah means “dedication” and refers to the joyous eight-day celebration through which Jews commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over the armies of Syria in 165 B.C.E. and the subsequent liberation and “rededication” of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Shehecheyanu
Recite this blessing the first time you do something each Jewish calendar year (e.g., the first night of Hanukkah when you light the menorah), and to mark joyous occasions.
The History of Hanukkah Gifts: Is This Custom Really a Jewish One?
Whip Up a Tu BiShvat Feast with Recipes Representing the Seven Species
A Tu BiShvat Seder Guide for Kids
Simultaneous Joy and Pain: The Wisdom of the Counting of the Omer
This year at our Passover seder, I experienced something deeply powerful which I had not felt in the context of Passover before.
Inspiring Israeli Students with a Visit to the Knesset
Recently, I took my b’nai mitzvah students to the Knesset to see how liberal Jewish values are rooted in tradition and can inform Israel’s public policy decisions.
What Tu BiShvat and Sam the Pickle Man Have in Common
Even though “Crossing Delancy’s” Sam the Pickle Man and Tu BiShvat both are somewhat predictable, they also are filled with wisdom, poetry, hope, and faith.
This Tu BiShvat, May We Begin with the Trees
May each of us, at this Tu BiShvat – the New Year of the Trees – refuse to be complacent in accepting the ills and sorrows of our lives.
How the Supermarket Reminds Me Tu BiShvat is Coming
In my past life as a cantor in Los Angeles, I was always facilitating the concept of “Jewish time” for others. Here in Jerusalem, it just sort of happens on its own.