The Mishneh Torah is a halachic masterpiece and first comprehensive code of Jewish law composed by Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204), in Hebrew known by the acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, as a Rambam. He was one of history’s most preeminent Jewish thinkers, whose teachings also influenced the non­Jewish world. Rambam was an author of some of [...]

This week on December 20th Jews around the world will begin celebrating the eight-day Hanukkah festival. Every night for eight days, we will light the Hanukkah candles, celebrating a victory over Greek armies 2200 years ago. We will eat latkes and spin dreidels. On the road during Hanukkah and feel the need to light candles? [...]

Who spends the most time using your iPhone or iPad while you are at home? Yes, it is your child.  And you know they love those animated and fun educational games. RustyBrick has designed its  first iPhone app designed specifically for Jewish children to learn the Alef Bet, the Hebrew alphabet. The application is an interactive [...]

From an iShofar to smart Siddurs, RustyBrick, the software company founded by twins Barry and Ronnie Schwartz, dominates the Jewish app market. Far from the sleek offices of Silicon Valley, a nondescript office building off the New York Thruway in Suffern, N.Y., just over the New Jersey border, houses the headquarters of RustyBrick, a modest [...]

In the Sephardic tradition, Selichot are said beginning with the month of  Elul, through Yom Kippur to help worshipers direct their hearts and minds to the process of teshuvah, repentance.  At the Selichot service, worshipers begin to examine their deeds of the past year,  seeking forgiveness from G-d, and promising to improve their behavior in the New Year. In the Ashkenazic tradition, [...]

HebrewNEXT is the official Hebrew flashcard app of Birthright Israel NEXT, bringing Hebrew right to your iPhone, and making it quick and easy to learn. Whether you’ve never studied Hebrew or are just looking for a refresher, HebrewNEXT offers a fun way to pick up Hebrew on-the-go! Featuring a bank of key phrases for travel [...]

Birkat Hamazon known in English as the Grace After Meals, in Yiddish bentshn “to bless” and in Yinglish as Benching is a set of  Hebrew blessings that Jewish Law prescribes following a meal that includes bread or matzah made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt. RustyBrick has built Bencher – Status Bar Menu Birkat HaMazon app for your Mac, running OS 10.5 or greater. It contains [...]

Rabbi Ari Sytner delivers an entertaining and informative presentation named  ”Judaism In The 21st Century: How The iPhone Is Changing The Way We Observe The Torah“. Rabbi Ari Sytner is the spiritual leader of  Brith Sholom Beth Israel Synagogue in Charleston,  South Carolina.  He “was born in Brooklyn and raised in upstate Monsey, New York, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Travel and looking for a kosher restaurant to eat at but want to find the restaurant that is nearby? RustyBrick just released, in conjunction with Shamash.org, a free version of  the Kosher iPhone app. The Kosher iPhone application will look up the nearest kosher place to eat from your current location, using the iPhone’s GPS features. If you [...]

This is a useful Hebrew to English and English to Hebrew translator / dictionary / milon for Android. You can translate Hebrew by typing using our Hebrew keyboard and clicking translate. This application uses the Google Translate API and requires internet access to work. Google’s translation service uses billions of words of text, both monolingual text [...]

When Chanukah comes, according to new custom, there is a rush to make sure you’ve bought the best gifts for your friends and family. What better last-minute gift than some Jewish-themed iPhone/iPad apps. The simplest way to buy an app as a gift:  go to the AppStore on your iPhone.  Search for the one of  your [...]

It’s the electric menorah of the Facebook generation — more than two-dozen applications that smartphone users can download to do just about anything Chanukah related short of eating latkes. “Handy, and You Don’t Need a Match to Light Up” by Deborah Hirsch Itching to play dreidel?  There’s an app for that. Can’t remember whether mom [...]

You can listen to the Shofar sounds right on your iPhone or iPod Touch with this application. Just click on the Shofar sound you want to hear, i.e. Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah or Tekiah Gedolah and listen to a recording of  a Tokea (Shofar blaster). Important: To hear the sound, you must have vibrate off and [...]