Category: Science and Health

I was visiting a Christian hospital the other day that glittered with Christmas decorations. The whole vibe was in the Christmas spirit, except for one thing. Instead of “Merry Christmas,” people kept wishing me, “Happy Holidays!” Maybe because the person I was with introduced me as a Jew (“he’s with the Jewish Journal”), people didn’t […]

It is a savage crime that haunts the Jewish people to this day. And it never should have happened. Joseph’s brothers, enraged by envy, decide to murder him, only to change course at the last minute and sell him into a lifetime of slavery. Joseph certainly had provoked them; he was clearly his father’s favorite, […]

On Hanukkah 1932, just prior to the elections that would bring Hitler to power, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, took this photo of the family’s Hanukkah menorah from the window ledge of her home. The view from the window was a building across the road, decorated with Nazi flags. On the back […]

“My grandfather led his congregation into the gas chamber,” Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie says in “Sabbath Queen,” a new documentary about Lau-Lavie’s life. “A rabbi doesn’t leave his congregation.” Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau died with his people in Treblinka. In the film, Lau says he would see a picture of his grandfather and when he thought […]

Now through January 5, Disney on Ice presents Magic in the Stars is in Los Angeles and surrounding areas – just in time to take the family for Hanukkah. The four-week run is happening in Anaheim, Ontario, Long Beach and Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena December 19-22, and has morning and evening shows available. […]

So much for tuxedos, tails and glamorous evening gowns—and those bollocks British accents. What a curious spectacle when posh people descend to the mosh pits. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Oxford Union, the famed debating society that for two centuries has hosted an international jet set of debaters in their best finery […]

Since Oct. 7, Asif has focused on supporting frontline soldiers and families impacted by the war, while also bolstering the local culinary community. Asif is a non-profit organization and culinary center in Tel Aviv, dedicated to cultivating and nurturing Israel’s diverse and creative food culture. ASIF’s Follow the Food initiative, which began in April, has […]

Rachel lived a life of broken dreams. She was in love with Jacob, waiting seven long years for marriage, only to be betrayed by her father at the wedding. For years, God holds Rachel childless. In her distress, Rachel quarrels with her husband and sister. And in the end, Rachel dies in childbirth, a young […]

Is it halakhically permitted to recite L’Hadlik Ner (Shel) Hanukkah – To Kindle the Hanukkah Light – over an electric menorah? In his book Mayim Hayim, Rabbi Yosef Messas not only permits the use of an electric menorah, but writes that it’s arguably the finest way to fulfill the mitzvah of lighting the Hanukkah lights. […]