Mimouna represented the love and intimacy of a neighborhood. There\’s nothing like popping in to see 10, 20, 30 different neighbors on the same night, most of whom you see all the time — especially when you know your great-great-great-grandparents probably did the same thing in the same place.
I am a New Orleans Jew. The values of those identities fuel me like the smooth-yet-caffeinated drink that is the trademark of my hometown. I embrace the changing communal calendars and the rituals for their observances of joy and tragedy. These have taught me what it means to be human and how to extract eternity from the changing seasons.
Even though I can readily explain the concept of the World to Come (\”Did you hear the one about the rabbi in heaven posted next to the blonde in the bikini?\”), eschatology isn\’t my really my strong point, and I\’m not sure it\’s the point of Judaism.
On her big day, Yael spoke with maturity and depth about the concepts of oz and hadar, strength and splendor, for which the Jewish woman is praised in Eishet Chayil. She explained that this is the kind of strength that springs from faith in God and from the courage of one\’s convictions.
All in all, 2006 was a very good year for Jewish music.
It\’s important during Chanukah to teach children and grandchildren about Jewish traditions and to recall the miracle of the oil, when a one-day supply lasted for eight days, enough time until fresh oil could be made from the olive trees to keep the flame lit in the Holy Temple.
In a gallery carved into a stone wall amid the ancient ruins of Caesarea, Eran Grebler sits at a potter\’s wheel shaping clay dreidels.Grebler\’s dreidels are not your typical spinning tops. They don\’t have four sides, and they\’re not necessarily for Chanukah.
Moses made the first menorah. God commanded him to hammer out an ornate, free-standing, seven-branched candelabrum, replete with cups, knobs and flowers, from a solid piece of gold. Back then, in the desert tabernacle, and later in the First and Second Temple, the menorah fulfilled a largely inspirational and symbolic function. It was lit with the purest oil in an outside area, and it was meant to illuminate the world with the light of God and the Torah.But the menorah has changed over time.
Regarding either Jewish or feminist art, we may ultimately be stuck with Justice Potter Stewart\’s comment about pornography, \”I know it when I see it.\” And perhaps that will be the most valuable contribution of this exhibition.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.