Tu BiShvat Fruit and Nut Cups
This dish pays homage to the Seven Species, which we eat on Tu BiShvat.
Vegetarian Mushroom Barley Soup
One favorite dish of the Ashkenazim that survived the move from the shtetl to North America was the hearty mushroom-potato-barley soup called krupnick.
On Simchat Torah, We Turn and Turn Again
I like the symmetry of the concept of return.
I like the idea that, no matter how linear we think we are, or time is, or God is, we tend to find a way back. Even God recognizes this view: Why else create t’shuvah (repentance) before ever creating the heavens and the earth?
Waving the Flag of Egalitarianism in Israel on Simchat Torah
One of the great paradoxes of being an American Reform Jew who chose to make aliyah (move to Israel) is that the whole concept of majority and minority is turned on its head. One the one hand, as a Jew, I am culturally and ethnically now part of the majority.
Reimagining Simchat Torah so Our Rejoicing Lasts All Year
The truth is Simchat Torah is not my favorite holiday.
There. I said it.
Songs and Videos for Celebrating Simchat Torah
Do we literally read the entire Torah in one year, starting on Simchat Torah?
We read the entire Torah over a year, beginning the cycle on the same week as Simchat Torah. The Torah is divided into 54 portions – or parashiyot – and, generally, one portion is read each week on Shabbat.
How many days is Sukkot?
Sukkot, the Jewish festival of booths (a harvest holiday of thanksgiving), begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei.
From Maryland to Mexico: Rejoicing in the Torah
Learn what happened when a congregation in Ajijic, Mexico, contacted B’er Chayim Temple in Cumberland, MD, to see about acquiring a much-needed Torah scroll.