During a time when some Jews refrain from listening to live music – famous Orthodox rapper Y-Love and beatbox superstar Yuri Lane (who has over 9 millions hits on Youtube) create all their music non-instrumentally. The album “Count It (Sefira)” is an all vocal hip-hop record with over seven tracks to correspond to the seven [...]

Halachot of  Sefirat HaOmer: In this Torah shiur Rabbi Shimon Isaacson examines whether Sefirat Haomer is a Torah law or a Rabbinic law, and the halacha regarding one who misses a day of counting. Rabbi Isaacson is the Rosh yshiva of Yeshiva Shaarei Mevasseret Tzion. He received his Rabbinic Ordination from the Meretz Kollel. Rabbi Isaacson [...]

Any Tolkein fans will recognise Gollum’s famous riddle to the hobbit: This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town; And beats high mountain down. And of course when our hobbit panics and pleads for more “time, time” to work out the [...]

Throughout the world, young and old alike enjoy the festive bonfires of  Lag B’Omer and the delicious cheesecake of  Shavuot. That said, we need to perform the act of Sefiras HaOmer, counting the Omer (all the way from the holiday of Passover to Shavuot), to reach these dates. And yet, understanding the mechanics and spiritual significance of [...]

There is a mitzvah of counting the 49 days, known as Sefirat Ha’Omer. The Omer is counted from the second night of  Passover through the night before Shavuot. It is best to count the Omer at nightfall, immediately after the evening prayer. Ultimate Omer 2 is a Sefirat Ha’Omer app for iOS created by Moshe Berman (more his apps). It [...]

It’s time to put your Chametz into the history. The night before Passover demands Chametz to be nowhere near you. We launch a genuine “search and destroy” mission. The enemy is Chametz (leavened products that are forbidden to be consumed during Passover), or any kind of a trace of it. For the time of this holiday [...]

The Seder Night: Inspiring and Involving our Children – Bringing Torah to Life: Deepening our Children’s Jewish Experience: In this Torah shiur on chinuch habanim (children’s education), Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller talks about how to maximize the educational experience for our children on the first night of Pesach, at the Seder. This Torah class is available [...]

The Passover time is a great family time. More importantly, it is the time to explore Jewish history and a chance to find similarities to contemporary world’s hardships. “Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities” the book by David Arnow constitutes an outstanding resource for any seder leader. Your experience, [...]

Passover: The Journey to Freedom is yet another app from StoryChimes. The story tells us of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt, the 10 plagues sent by G-d onto Egyptians before the Pharaoh agreed to set his Israelite slaves free,  Jews’ great rush while leaving Egypt, the rush so enormous that they didn’t even have time [...]

The “five grains” are wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. Grain that was planted and started taking root before the first day Chol Hamoed Pessach may be eaten immediately – and is called “Yashan” (old). Grain that took root thereafter is “Chadash” (new) and may not be eaten until after the 2nd day Chol Hamoed [...]

It’s a shame to admit, but not every comedy should dish out unapologetic language and rude/crude behavior. Believe it or not, the laugh track sometimes belongs to seniors who don’t appreciate humor involving incest and/or child abuse. Those wholesome types usually prefer squeaky-clean titles like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Spanglish for shits and [...]

“A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry” by Mark Kurlansky,  Ballantine Books,  December 24,  2008 A powerful, deeply moving narrative of hope reborn in the shadow of despair.  Fifty years after it was bombed to rubble, Berlin is once again a city in which Jews gather for the Passover seder. Paris and Antwerp have recently [...]

An introduction to the religion and traditions of Judaism. This app will give you an experience with beautiful graphics on both the iPad and the iPhone / iPod Touch platforms. The app contains information on Jewish history as well as major Jewish holidays such as Passover, Hanukkah, Purim, and Rosh Hashanah. Features: – Shake for [...]

App iZkor brings you the text for the mourning rituals in Judaism that are said in all prayer services as well as at funerals and memorials. Yizkor means “remembrance” in Hebrew. Yizkor should be recited in a synagogue with a minyan. It is an custom, primarily in Ashkenazi synagogues,  for those who have both parents living [...]

During a time when some Jews refrain from listening to live music – famous Orthodox rapper Y-Love and beatbox superstar Yuri Lane (who has over 9 millions hits on Youtube) create all their music non-instrumentally. The album “Count It (Sefira)” is an all vocal hip-hop record with over seven tracks to correspond to the seven [...]