Women Teaching Talmud: An Archaic Jewish Religious Barrier Is Biting the Dust
Jewish girls and women no longer need to cross-dress to study Talmud. In fact, some are actually teaching the central text…
Jewish girls and women no longer need to cross-dress to study Talmud. In fact, some are actually teaching the central text…
With the support of 83% of the congregation’s voting members, Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis…
According to Jewish religious law, both parties in a marriage must agree to divorce…
Jacqueline Mates-Muchin , a San Francisco native, is the world’s first Chinese-American rabbi. Her mother was second-generation Chinese American and her father was the son of Austrian Jewish immigrants. She was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2002. After serving as an assistant rabbi in Buffalo, New York, she…
You may already know the foods that go on the traditional seder plate: shank bone (zeroa), egg (beitzah), bitter herbs (maror), vegetable (karpas) and a sweet paste called haroset. You may also be vaguely aware that an orange is increasingly being added to those symbolic foods. Do you know why and what the orange represents?…
Halacha (transliterated from the Hebrew in a number of closely related variations) refers to Jewish religious laws derived from biblical commandments (mitzvot) and Talmudic and rabbinic law. On the other hand, minhag refers to an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, nusach, refers to the traditional order and form of…
For halachically observant Jews, reciting b’rachot (Jewish blessings) for everything from mundane daily events to life-changing major developments is a religious obligation and joy. In the article linked below from The Jewish News of Northern California, Jewish Telegraphic Agency writer Laura E. Adkins interviewed five rabbis about what the proper blessing or blessings are to…
One thing Jews have become quite good at over the years is coping with, adjusting to, and overcoming adverse conditions. That skill is going to come in handy this winder. Because of the pandemic, many observant Jews have moved their prayer services outdoors, where they can socially distance properly. That wasn’t a huge sacrifice during…
In late September, The Jerusalem Post published a report by Linda Gradstein — titled “Will the coronavirus pandemic make synagogues obsolete?” — about how numerous (non-Haredi) observant Jews in Israel are adapting to the current situation in creative and positive ways. These efforts are enabling Jews to continue praying together while minimizing the risk to…
By the time you receive this, Rosh Hashanah will have come and gone, and we’re just days away from Yom Kippur in the year 5781 on the Jewish calendar. The ten-day period known as the “Days of Awe” is the holiest time in the Jewish religion: It is when HaShem (God) decides the fate of…
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WOW! FACTS
Inventor of the mobile phone, “Father of the Internet,” inventor of the video game cosole, inventor fo the laser, inventor of the gramophone, creator of the Barbie Doll, creator of the cruise ship, “Father of Immunology,” inventor fo the modern condom (!), a prime minister of the U.K., a three-time prime minister of France, a president of Switzerland and the primary financier of the American Revolution?
We knew you could guess… all of them are (or were) Jews!
To learn about these and many more AmazingJews, watch a compilation put together by JewOfTheWeek.net in 2015 and posted on YouTube. >>
Nobel Prizes
Although Jews are less than two-tenths of one percent of the world’s population, more than 20% of Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. Source: Google
Polio Vaccine
Millions and millions of people worldwide have been spared the ravages of poliomyelitis — including paralysis and even death — thanks to research conducted by Jewish scientist Dr. Jonas Salk and his team. The Salk vaccine entered widespread use in the U.S. in 1955. Source: Wikipedia
Miss Liberty
The words “…give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” on the Statue of Liberty were written by Emma Lazarus, a Jew. Source: BuzzFeed
Blue Jeans
Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Germany, invented his blue jeans in 1873. Source: BuzzFeed
Start-Up Nation
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world. It has the highest rate of entrepreneurship among women and people over 55 in the world. Source: BuzzFeed