By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — It is traditional to eat dairy products, such as cheesecake and blintzes, on Shavuot. Many reasons have been cited for this custom, including which of the following? A. In the Hebrew tradition of Gematria, where the numerical value of words is considered for interpretation, chalav, meaning milk, has a value […]
Jewish trivia quiz: Shavuot & Dairy Read More »
Jewish Religion, Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Q: Why does it take 10 men for a prayer minyan? A: The custom of the minyan is rabbinic in origin. When examining the minyan’s origins, it is vital we remember that this custom is not something that is etched in stone. However, as a custom,
Ask a Rabbi: Do we need ’10 men’ for a prayer minyan? Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Jerry Klinger ASHLEY, North Dakota — May 21, 2017, was a sunny day. Strong, chilling winds whipped across the treeless Great Plains farming land. Nearly a hundred people gathered, some from the local community, some having traveled thousands of miles. They all came to honor, to remember, to respect, to preserve the past
The Jewish homesteads of North Dakota Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, USABy Steve Kramer ALFEI MENASHE, Israel — 120 years ago, the First Zionist Conference under the leadership of Theodor Herzl was held in Basel, Switzerland. Before his untimely death, Herzl predicted that the modern State of Israel would emerge within 50 years. Herzl was wrong – it took 51 years until the State of Israel
A lightning quick history of Israel Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastHall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, who went on to serve in Congress as a Kentucky politician, died overnight at the age of 85, the Philadelphia Phillies announced Saturday. “We are saddened to announce the passing of Hall of Fame pitcher and former U.S. Senator, Jim Bunning,” the Phillies wrote on Twitter. “Our thoughts and
Hall of Fame pitcher, former U.S. senator Bunning dies at 85 Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, Sports & Competitions, USAGregg Allman, the gravel-voiced singer who helped lift the Allman Brothers Band to prominence with a hard-churning brand of soulful rock that became part of the soundtrack of the 1960s and ’70s and set the coordinates for a musical genre known as Southern rock, died Saturday at 69. According to a statement posted on his
Gregg Allman, Southern rock pioneer, dies at 69 Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorialsBy Rabbi Ben Kamin OCEANSIDE, California – “God’s work on earth must truly be our own,” he declared in those thick Bostonian tones at the close of his renowned Inaugural Address on the bitter cold morning of January 20, 1961. A flawed man with impeccable charm and poise, a legend larger than himself, he remains the
JFK would be 100 on May 29 Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, USABy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — I never read the book Moby Dick in my youth. Now that I have more time, I decided to read it in my dotage. I failed miserably. Even though Moby Dick is considered one of the greatest works of American literature, I found it ponderous and boring. When
Delay tasks? You’re more a Melville than a Moses Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish ReligionBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I was in the ninth month of my first pregnancy when the Six Day War broke out, fifty years ago. I have written in some detail about this point in my life in my first novel, The Balancing Game, so if you have read it I apologize for
Pregnant and sheltered during the Six Day War Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East
By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Take two Canadian offspring of Holocaust survivors, Moses Znaimer and Hindy Nosek-Abelson, and put them in Toronto TV studio and the result will be the first-ever Yiddish translation and group performance of Canada’s national anthem “O Canada” just in time for Canada Day on July 1st, which celebrates
O Canada in Yiddish to debut June 6 Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryWhat plus Why Is Unstoppable! By Rabbi Yaakov Marks SAN DIEGO — “And G-d spoke to Moshe and Aaron, saying: Each man under his flag with the signs according to the house of their fathers they will camp, at a distance and around the Tabernacle they will camp.” (Numbers 2:1-2) The Midrash Rabbah (Numbers 2:7)
Weekly Torah portion: Bamidbar Read More »
Jewish Religion, Travel and FoodCHICAGO — Harold Katz didn’t require a crash course in Hebrew before his bar mitzvah next week in Wilmette, Ill. He started preparing 76 years ago, and his skills never got rusty. Katz, 89, who lives in a North Side retirement home, was to have celebrated the occasion in Czechoslovakia back in 1941. But that
Delayed by Nazis, bar mitzvah to now be celebrated by 89-year-old Holocaust survivor Read More »
Jewish History, USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Someone in my synagogue asked me an interesting question about Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner: What kind of Halakhic dispensation was given to them to drive on the Sabbath to the Inauguration of the President? The same question came up recently when the Trump entourage
Ivanka: A fitting successor to Queen Esther? Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USAAfter memorializing the Jews who once lived just north of the Mongolian border, the Chernykh family is brought to Israel by Toronto Jews as token of thanks By Renee Ghert-Zand On an evening in early May, Russian grandmother Taisya Chernykh and her family collapsed into chairs in the lobby of their Jerusalem hotel after long
Why did a Russian Orthodox family restore a Siberian Jewish cemetery? Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East