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For Yael Michaely, her husband Boaz, and their three young children, feeling at home in their new country began in earnest one autumn evening in 2004. For these Israelis recently transplanted to Newton, Massachusetts, the neighborhood sukkah hop transformed anonymous streets into a community…
With the holiday of Sukkot beginning at sundown on Sunday, many families and congregations are busy erecting the holiday’s namesake hut — the sukkah. While its form is familiar, what is the deeper meaning of the fragile, temporary structure, and what does it represent? Why is this building d…
The day plays out much the same way every year, around when summer transitions into fall.
So, everyone who’s ever purchased a bundle or three of parsley for Pesach and then still seemed to have a bundle or three of parsley left when the Seders were over, please raise your hand.
While I love Passover, I find breakfast the most challenging meal during the holiday of unleavened bread. Removing foods made with flour and grains from breakfast menus means digging deep into the creative side of my brain.
Even though “stylish” and “traditional” may seem like opposites and mean something different to each of us, the two qualities can actually be combined beautifully and comfortably, especially at Passover.
For a millennia-old religious celebration that has little to do with physical well-being, the Passover holiday offers unexpected health-related opportunities.
Preparing the Seder plate can seem overwhelming, but it needn’t be.
Rumored bagel shortage schmears widespread panic
In keeping with the spirit of Purim, perhaps the most irreverent of Jewish holidays, the Chabad of the East Valley’s CTeen program is going to bake what it is dubbing “America’s Largest Hamantash” on Feb. 27. Though Jewish News was unable to confirm if the hamantashen will be the largest in …
Whether it is bearing fruit, cleaning the air or protecting us from an oppressive sun, the value of trees — and nature itself — has long been recognized by the Jewish people.
The ruins of a 1,500-year-old church and monastery have been unearthed near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in an excavation led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
Two archaeological discoveries with highly symbolic value dating back to the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Israel were revealed just before the start of Chanukah.
Dec. 3-12
Chanukah is here and there are plenty of ways to throw a festive holiday party without breaking the bank or setting your kitchen ablaze.
This propane-fueled menorah was built by Meir Schwabinger.
Every year in cities across the U.S., Chabad holds Chanukah parades featuring vehicles decorated with various kinds of menorahs.
Sunday, Dec. 3
Every year, Chabad of the East Valley has a program to teach children about Sukkot, but this year there’s a new twist.
Chabad of the East Valley has announced plans for its Sukkah Hopping Tour, which invites children and parents to visit four sukkahs throughout the East Valley in order to view and celebrate the different customs and traditions around the holiday and its iconic structure.
The general rule of a break-the-fast meal seems to be simple, relatively light and requiring minimal day-of preparation.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Gesher Disability Resources (formerly the Council For Jews With Special Needs) will be providing sign language interpretation for High Holiday services. Gesher is partnering with Temple Emanuel of Tempe to provide the services.
Coming from a non-observant family of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel, a country where many people tend to lead secular lifestyles to begin with, I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious environment. In fact, I can count on fewer than five fingers the times that I…
Contemplation. Reflection. Introspection. Solemnity. Forgiveness.
Tradition dictates a glass of champagne on the secular New Year. But what can give you a nice buzz to celebrate the Jewish New Year?
Between blasting shofars, snacking on sweet treats, family and community gatherings and a break from the usual routine of the school day, the High Holidays are a special time for children.
Despite relative isolation from their Jewish brethren around the world for millennia, Ethiopian Jews have coveted the same dream of celebrating Rosh Hashanah “next year in Jerusalem.”
For many Jews, the High Holiday period is a time of deep observance and self-reflection, but for an increasingly large share of American Jewry, the holidays also bring a new set of challenges that go to the very core of one’s faith.
There are an estimated 3,500 Jewish students at Arizona State University’s four campuses. Of those, many come from out of state — but they don’t have to observe the High Holidays alone. Chabad at ASU, ASU Hillel and Jewish Arizonans on Campus offer a host of services and meals to make them f…
When Temple Chai Executive Director Joe Miller first heard of the proposal to turn the synagogue into a part-time homeless shelter, he was more than a little skeptical.
There’s an old joke about a boy who shows up at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. The usher tells him he can’t come in without a ticket. “But I’m not staying. I just need to talk to my mother,” the boy pleads. “Well, all right,” the usher says. “But if I catch you praying, I’m kicking you out!”
For rabbis, it’s their annual golden opportunity to reach a much larger audience than usual. For members of a congregation, they can be either enlightening or entertaining highlights of the services, or dreary and sometimes infuriating sessions. In any scenario, there’s no better barometer o…
With the High Holidays just around the corner, now is a natural time for reflecting on the mitzvot performed throughout the year and to pause and consider what more can be done in the coming year.
Jewish families around the world begin Rosh Hashanah meals by dipping apples in honey, symbolizing their hope for a sweet New Year. They also drizzle honey into holiday cuisine.
Grandparents, parents, children and other family and friends are invited to party like it’s 5778 at the Valley of the Sun JCC’s (The J) first Rosh Hashanah New Year’s Eve party.
Forget Valentine’s Day. Jews have a romantic holiday of our own.
Self-driving cars. Drip irrigation. Missile defense. Milk?
An estimated 1,500 or more people gathered at Castles & Coasters in Phoenix on May 14 for Chabad of Arizona’s community Lag B’Omer celebration.
Lag B’Omer isn’t one of the best-known Jewish holidays — though some may notice that the men whose faces have grown fairly fuzzy following Passover are suddenly clean-shaven again.
What holiday is not mentioned in the Torah or anywhere until the 13th century and has no particular foods associated with it? The answer is Lag b’Omer. The Torah commands us to begin on the second night of Passover and count the omer. Omer, which means sheaf, was a measure of grain from the …
Nurit Avigdor of Scottsdale leads a pet seder at Choice Pet Market in Scottsdale on April 2. The seder, which included Passover songs, dog yarmulkes and kosher pet food giveways, was sponsored by Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company, who manufactures kosher dog and cat food for Passover. Guest…
Gluten-free matzah might sound like a bad joke – after all, regular unleavened bread tastes pretty cardboard-like already.
At Passover, Jews around the world gather around their dining-room tables to remember their past plight as slaves in Egypt. But the seder can also be a time to learn about the hardships facing others today.
When Rabbi Robert Kravitz pulled off his tie at the Latino-Jewish Seder on March 21, he said it was symbolic of seeking freedom. Wearing a tie, he said, is a custom that feels confining and men do it to themselves out of social convention. So he liberated himself of the tie and continued lea…
Even the most finicky wine snob won’t be able to “pass over” the new generation of kosher wines. Increasingly, the mindset is that since Jews are commanded to drink four cups of wine at the Passover seder, they might as well drink high-quality wine.
Two weeks before Passover, Rabbis Elana Kanter and Michael Wasserman of The New Shul were leading a model seder – a very special one, using a brightly colored, easy-to-hold Haggadah with visual images.
The Sun Belt is so yesterday.
At first glance, the drab town of Bershad, Ukraine, 160 miles south of Kiev, seems nearly identical to the other settlements that dot the poverty-stricken district of Vinnitsa.
Temple Beth Shalom in Sun City is inviting the women of the community to a Women’s Interactive Seder, “to share a Passover experience with a feminine twist,” organizers say.
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