Every 14th day of Adar on the Hebrew calendar Jewish people celebrate Purim. It’s a joyous holiday that marks the time the Persian Jewish population was saved from genocide. Okay, while Purim does have rather dark underpinnings, it really is supposed to be a fun celebration of survival full of wine, noisemakers and hamantaschen – the triangle cookie-like pastry with…
Jews are one of the most ancient peoples in the world. Jewish history is recorded in the Bible, by historians outside of the Bible, and through archeology. We have more facts about Jewish history than that of any other nation – which we will use to build a timeline to summarize the history of the Jews. Abraham: The Jewish Family…
The Hebrew calendar (Hebrew: הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, HaLuah HaIvri), also called Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits (dates to commemorate the death of a relative), and daily Psalm readings, among many ceremonial uses. In Israel, it is used…
The JCS Torah Scroll: Purim-Torah. What a Megillah When Adar comes in, joy increases. On Purim we engage in Purim-Torah: jokes and irreverent teachings that blur the differences between the sacred and the profane. The Jewish Chaplaincy Society has wanted a Torah Scroll of its own since its inception in 2002. Every once in a while, I would check out…