Picture this: The year is 1313 BCE. The Israelites are in the desert, recently having experienced the miraculous Exodus, and are now poised to enter the Promised Land. But first they dispatch a reconnaissance mission to assist in formulating a prudent battle strategy. The spies return on the eighth day of Av and report that the land is unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They insist that they’d rather go back to Egypt than be slaughtered by the Canaanites. God is highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His power, and consequently that generation of Israelites never enters the Holy Land. Only their children…

It is customary to eat dairy food on Shavuot. Everything from cheese blintzes to lasagna to cheesecake makes this festival a delight for dairy lovers! The word Shavuot means “weeks.” It marks the completion of the seven week counting period between Passover and Shavuot. The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event—one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times. Our Sages have compared it to a wedding between God and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means oath and on this day God swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.

Story in a NutshellAfter many decades of slavery to the Egyptian Pharaohs, during which time the Israelites were subjected to backbreaking labour and unbearable horrors, God saw the people’s distress and sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: “Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me.” But despite numerous warnings, Pharaoh refused to heed G d’s command. God then sent upon Egypt ten devastating plagues, afflicting them and destroying everything from their livestock to their crops. At the stroke of midnight of Nissan 15 of the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), G d visited the last of the ten plagues on the Egyptians, killing all their firstborn.…

The story in a nutshell:The Persian empire of the 4th century BCE extended over 127 lands, and all the Jews were its subjects. When King Ahasuerus had his wife, Queen Vashti, executed for failing to follow his orders, he orchestrated a beauty pageant to find a new queen. A Jewish girl, Esther, found favour in his eyes and became the new queen—though she refused to divulge the identity of her nationality. Meanwhile, the anti-Semitic Haman was appointed prime minister of the empire. Mordechai, the leader of the Jews (and Esther’s cousin) defied the king’s orders and refused to bow to Haman. Haman was incensed and convinced the king to issue…

The Talmud, the body of Jewish oral law, relates how the Judean heroes, led by Judah Maccabee, were making ready to rededicate the Temple and were unable to find enough undefiled oil to light the lamps. However, in one of the Temple chambers, they finally came upon a small cruse of oil which, under normal circumstances, would have lasted only one evening. Miraculously, this small amount of oil kept the Temple lights burning, not for one night, but for all the eight nights until new oil fit for use in the temple could be obtained. This is the miracle commemorated by the kindling of the Hanukkah lights.

Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret. Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret 22nd Tishri are one day. In Israel, where Simchat Torah is not celebrated on a separate day – since all Festivals are observed for a single day, the customs of Simchat Torah are observed together with those of Shemini Atzeret. This practice is observed by Liberal congregations. Simchat Torah comes on the last day of the festivities. At this time the last portion of the Torah is read, and since we never finish the Torah reading, we begin the reading from the very beginning again to show the Torah is beloved to us like a “new command to which everyone…

Sukkot runs from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of Tishrei. For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert prior to their entry into the Holy Land, miraculous “clouds of glory” surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember God’s kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah – a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches – for the duration of the autumn Sukkot festival. For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah – reciting a special blessing – and otherwise regard it as…

Moses spent nearly three months on top of the mountain pleading with God for forgiveness, and on the tenth of Tishrei it was finally granted: “I have pardoned, as you have requested.” From that moment on, this date, henceforth known as the Day of Atonement, is annually observed as a commemoration of our special relationship with God, a relationship that is strong enough to survive any rocky bumps it might encounter. This is a day when we connect with the very essence of our being, which remains faithful to God regardless of our outward behavior. And while it is the most solemn day of the year, we are also joyful,…

The primary theme of the day is our acceptance of God as our King The primary theme of the day is our acceptance of G d as our King. The Kabbalists teach that the renewal of God’s desire for the world, and thus the continued existence of the universe, is dependent upon this. We accept God as our King, and God is aroused, once again, with the desire to continue creating the world for one more year. The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn. The sounding of the shofar represents, among other things, the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their…