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Shabbat, as well as many Jewish holidays, begins with the lighting of candles. The candles are traditionally lit in the home at least 18 minutes before sunset. The lighting marks the beginning of a day of rest and refreshment. It seems clear that this custom began at a time when our homes were not illuminated…
Rabbi Jason Miller, tech entrepreneur and blogger, has once again come up with a list of the best Hanukkah videos of the year on his blog. Each year I put together a list of the best Hanukkah videos for the year and this year I’ve really narrowed the list to only the best of the…
It looked, at first, like another chapter in Israel’s gender segregation wars. On Monday, an Open Zion/Daily Beast headline screamed that Ben Gurion University of the Negev had prohibited women from lighting the Hanukkah menorah. If a university rabbi had his way, that would have been true. Even the president of the university, Rivka Carmi,…
Remember when the most annoying part of the holiday season was the fact that jack o’ lanterns had barely made it into pumpkin pies before the radio started playing “Jingle Bells”? For Jews it seems there’s something new to dread this holiday season, besides drowning in Christmas jingles and a barrage of Santa commercials: the…
Apparently the world of Jewish a capella is more competitive than you think. After achieving overnight success with “Candlelight,” the Maccabeats, Yeshiva University’s all-male a capella group, is back with another surefire YouTube hit, “Purim Song” (no points for creative naming, guys!). This time, the story of Esther, Ahasverosh, Haman and Mordechai is set to…
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