Saturday, May 4th 2024 |
By JOEL MAGALNICK
(JTNews) — I have a bush outside of my house that blooms brilliant flowers each spring. With those flowers come honeybees. Lots and lots of bees. When the bush starts growing out of control and I have this urge to break out my clippers and start trimming, something stops me: The knowledge that these bees, whether they know it or not, have to work extra hard since...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Security awareness should be a primary consideration for synagogues during the High Holidays, the security arm of the national Jewish community said.
“Synagogue staff, security volunteers and greeters should be on the lookout for suspicious persons and/or activity around their facilities, particularly during services and other gatherings,” the Secure Community Network, an arm of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, David Lau, called for better treatment of the chickens used in the pre-Yom Kippur kapparot ritual.
Lau in a letter addressed to ritual organizers and participants wrote that causing the chickens to suffer before and during kapparot would be a “mitzvah through a transgression,” which he said “was not the intention of the sages.”
“I would like to remind you of the holy...
(JTA) — Pope Francis in a meeting with Jewish leaders sent Rosh Hashanah greetings to Jews worldwide and expressed “concern” at the ban on kosher slaughter in Poland.
At an audience Monday at the Vatican with World Jewish Congress heads, the pope said he was directing a cardinal to investigate the situation in Poland, where a ban has been in effect on ritual slaughter since January.
Francis met with a...
By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – as every Jewish child learns in pre-kindergarten – are about forgiveness. Jews of all theological stripes – even those whimsical souls who spread mayo instead of mustard on their pastrami, eat sweet rolls on Passover, and think the Pentateuch is an Olympic event – regard these holy days with extreme gravity.
Actually, the High Holidays, as...
The Northshore Jewish Congregation (NJC) welcomes Cantor David Mames tonight to its regular Shabbat worship services. Mames has been hired to assist Rabbi John Nimon with High Holiday worship services this year.
Mames, who is an educator, a producer and director of educational videos and a member of the American Congress of Cantors, is expected to help lead High Holiday worship services at NJC that begin Wednesday night, September 4...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Shimon Peres in his annual Rosh Hashanah message told world Jewry there is “no room to lose hope” in the coming year.
Rosh Hashanah, he pointed out in the message released Thursday, “carries with it great opportunities and great hope,” and Yom Kippur is “the time to forgive all the mistakes we have committed, knowingly or unknowingly, and we all commit mistakes.”
Peres continued: “We...
By ROB ESHMAN
LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — I started building my succah in December. To those of you who are succah DIYers, you know how ridiculous this sounds.
A succah is the ritual hut that Jews build each year on the holiday of Succot, which begins this year on the evening of Sept. 18. You set it up after Yom Kippur, you take it down after the eight days...
(JTA) — Two Spanish towns are preparing a two-day Judaica festival featuring a mock wedding to celebrate their lost Jewish heritage.
The Sept. 28-29 event, during the Jewish holiday of Succot, is being co-organized by non-Jews from San Juan and Rio Jerte in the province Extremadura in northwestern Spain. It also will include a Judaica market and songs, according to festival coordinator Antonio Gil.
“This is a local event for...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli government has advised Israelis and all Jews to avoid travel to several countries, including Egypt and Turkey, during the High Holidays, a popular time for leisure travel.
An advisory from the Prime Minister Office’s counterterrorism bureau warned that terrorists and terror groups such as al-Qaida might try to attack Jewish and Israeli targets during the holidays and also on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the...
