Tag: Judaism
In its bat mitzvah year, Sefaria executive reflects on the online Jewish library’s ubiquity
It started as an online digital copy of the Hebrew Bible. Today, Sefaria has thousands of biblical and rabbinic texts, which 700,000 people access monthly, according to Sara Wolkenfeld, the nonprofit’s chief learning officer.
Sefaria...
Is the Kabbalah for mystics or for everyone?
Tuesday was Lag B’Omer. The day has much more depth than just the traditional bonfires scattered across the land. It is considered nothing less than the anniversary of the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. The...
Jewish immortality
One of the final stops on our shul’s tour of Israel, which ended this week, was the Chain of Generations exhibition at the Western Wall Tunnels. Like all the museums we visited, it was...
Israel’s protests are now crossing sacred red lines
Israel’s three-month-old protest movement, which has repeatedly brought tens of thousands into the streets, is now crossing an increasing number of red lines.
There are serious anxieties that protests will disrupt next week’s Remembrance Day...
Honor the principles of Israel’s Declaration of Independence
In 1948, the State of Israel was founded on principles deeply rooted in Jewish history, faith and tradition. Israel’s Declaration of Independence cites the significance of the Land of Israel as “the birthplace of...
Tel Aviv deputy mayor slams public Passover prayers
Reuven Ladianski, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, said he intended to “bring to justice” the organizers of an April 11 prayer service held during Passover in the city’s Dizengoff Square.
“Dizengoff Square has become a...
A half-shekel, a whole people
These days, we hear dire warnings from around the world of an impending rift in the vaunted unity of the Jewish people. Israel is lurching dangerously rightward, they say, while much of American Jewry...
Wearing tefillin may prevent damage from heart attacks
Wearing tefillin may have life-saving cardiovascular benefits for both men and women, according to University of Cincinnati researchers.
Tefillin, or phylacteries, are small leather boxes containing biblical passages on parchment scrolls. There are two in...
30 deaf and hearing-impaired youths celebrate bar and bat mitzvahs in Jerusalem
Thirty deaf and hearing-impaired students from across Israel celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs in Jerusalem this week as part of a program developed by Young Israel in Israel’s Judaic Heritage Program for the...
The Torah, morality, antisemitism and the Tao
The question of the origin of morality is probably unanswerable, but a courageous attempt was recently made on this site, and with it an even more daunting effort to explain the cause of antisemitism.
In his article,...