As the years went by, without quite realizing it, I\’d been stylistically left behind. My poor brass menorah was outclassed by the exquisite handmade silver set made in Hungary, or even the Agam knockoff (himself inspired by the commentator Rambam) with the diagonal arms now available at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Chanukah is a minor holiday that commemorates the victory in 165 b.c.e. of outnumbered Jewish forces over the army of the oppressive Greco-Syrian empire that ruled Palestine at that time.
Amidst a blizzard of Christmas specials, the commercial networks are giving short shrift to Chanukah, so it\’s up to public television and radio stations to pick up the slack. KCET (PBS, Channel 28) is putting the emphasis on the culinary delights of Chanukah with the following programs:
Teaching the next generation about money — its value, what to do with it, how to use it — is not such an easy task.
You can find something for everybody in books available this holiday season.
Chanukah reminds us of a very inspiring struggle of the Jewish people.
One sure sign the Conejo Valley Jewish community is growing comes every year about this time.
Yom Kippur – a time of personal introspection – now a time of national reflection. How far have we really come in all these years?
As a scientist and a believer in human progress, I have been concerned about how well the established process of teshuvah (repentance) has worked. Yom Kippur after Yom Kippur – in fact, since the 11th century – we have recited the same confessional prayer, \”Al Chet.\” If we were any good at repentance, shouldn\’t the list have changed in 1,000 years? Even if we don\’t want to change the ancient formula, shouldn\’t we be able to feel that we had eliminated or reduced at least a few on the list? Yet the list of sins remains the same, as does the ritual for expunging them. Why haven\’t we improved?\n
Today you die. No one pronounces that horrible sentence on Yom Kippur, but it is true. Yom Kippur reenacts death. We wear white, like the shrouds we will one day be buried in. We do not eat, wash, procreate; we are as corpses. We recite the \”Unetaneh Tokef,\” filled with graphic, even gruesome images about our death.
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