Religion

Bringing Chanukah home

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

Where is the centre of Jewish life? Is it the shul or Jewish school? Or the Jewish home? The teachings of a great Jewish hero can guide us. He lived during the events that led up to the miracles of Chanukah, and his teachings connect to the festival.
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True beauty not in the eye of the beholder

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

If Judaism disapproves of physical beauty, how can the Torah praise the beauty of countless women throughout Jewish history? How can we reconcile an appreciation of natural beauty with a culture that emphasises modesty and shuns externality?
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Donut worry, these doughnuts will sweeten your chag

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

No matter what dieting trend you follow, the fact is that even Professor Tim Noakes might agree that doughnuts are – and always will be – the exception. Few can resist the doughy goodness of this classic treat, and with Chanukah around the corner, no excuse is needed to indulge.
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Living in a time of miracles

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

One had to both amused and dismayed at the way world leaders took pot shots at the so-called “leader of the free world” during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit last week. Is this what leadership has come to?
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Winning the war, one candle at a time

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

I will always think of Chanukah as a winter chag. Going back to my years growing up in Europe, the associations with this holiday are always of super-early dusk, sitting cosily inside watching the gentle snowfall, while consuming way too many of my mother’s boiling hot latkes. By now, I have lived in the southern hemisphere longer than elsewhere in the world, but Chanukah and summer are still not synonymous in my mind.
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Chanukah more than just doughnuts and dreidels

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

Chanukah means latkes, doughnuts, and dreidels, right? Not necessarily. People around the world celebrate the chag in all kinds of interesting and unusual ways, honouring all aspects of this festival of light.
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Making Chanukah with children meaningful

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

(JTA) While Chanukah is traditionally not one of the most central holidays of the Jewish calendar, it can offer many opportunities for fun. Here are some suggestions how you can make this Chanukah memorable while staying true to the essential meaning of the holiday.
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A chance to kindle personal and public possibilities

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” said Martin Luther King Jr. In the mid-1950s in America with all the horrors of institutionalised racism, it took leadership, courage and spiritual attunement for King to trust that the eventual twists and turns of human forces in the tunnel of time tend towards justice. Yet, if we pause to consider it, King’s bold declaration isn’t dissimilar to the message of Chanukah.
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Deck the halls with chanukiahs!

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

With its turkey, tinsel, and trees, no Christian holiday seems to fascinate Jews more than Christmas. The promise of pudding and presents captures our imagination. With the commercialisation and proliferation of Christmas growing every year, bearded Santa Claus starts to look more like a rabbi to some, albeit sporting an unconventional red gaberdine.
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Finding the positive in negative space

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

Hey, do you know what negative space is? I’ve thrown out this question to people around me this week, and have received some interesting answers. “It’s when you find yourself in a polluted space where things are negative and uncomfortable.” “It’s a place which feels negative, physically – kind of like squishy and uncomfortable.” “It’s a frame of mind, emotionally or mentally, when things just look negative.” Well, who can argue – they are all correct descriptions.
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Light up your holiday with Judaism

Dec 12, 2019 Go comment!

The end of the year is upon us; and it’s finally time for a break. Relaxation from school lifts, appointments, and traffic. Maybe even some time off work. Whether you are going to Romania or going to “remain here”, I hope you will get some diversion from your daily routine.
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Be present for every Jew, everywhere

Dec 05, 2019 Go comment!

I recently returned from the annual Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim Conference (aka the Kinus) in New York, where the culminating banquet expressed the idea of being present for every Jew, everywhere.
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How to bring blessing into your life

Nov 28, 2019 Go comment!

Man is a being with many needs. Not only materially but in many other areas – emotional, mental, social, biological, and spiritual. We are told that we must be “happy with our portion” (Pirkei Avot), yet we are created to be striving beings, seeking to increase and grow, and not stay as we are.
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Love at second sight

Nov 21, 2019 Go comment!

Why are so many marriages failures? And why do so many fail so soon after the wedding?
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Let trust be the message this Shabbat

Nov 14, 2019 Go comment!

This parsha continues with what Rashi (in his commentary to Gemara Gittin) calls Megillat Avraham, the Scroll of Abraham. The story of our great patriarch Avraham and matriarch Sarah takes place over 14 chapters in the Torah and certainly merits the title Megillah in its own right. The question, however, is: What is special about Avraham that he suddenly becomes this primary character in the story that Hashem tells us through the Torah?
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Go and do something you believe in

Nov 07, 2019 Go comment!

According to the Torah portion this Shabbat, Lech Lecha, “The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” (Genesis 12:1) Abraham got up and went.
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The bokke brocha

Oct 31, 2019 Go comment!

Is their Castle Lager on tap during the torah reading? Will the rabbi be announcing rugga scores instead of siddur page numbers at shul this week? Well, we’re there for davening, not Damien de Allende, so – also no.
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Home and heart: why Sukkot is the shelter we need

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

Many years ago, I had the privilege of studying at the Drisha Institute in New York, where women are paid to sit and study Talmud. After enrolling, I discovered that the tractate of Talmud we would be studying was about the sukkah.
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Sukkot a message for the ‘me’ generation

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

Of all the festivals, Sukkot is surely the one that speaks most powerfully to our time. Kohelet could almost have been written in the 21st century. Here is the picture of ultimate success, the man who has it all - the houses, the cars, the clothes, the adoring women, the envy of others. He has pursued everything this world can offer from pleasure to possessions to power to wisdom and yet, surveying the totality of his life, he can only say, in effect, “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.”
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Making delicious food to eat in the sukkah

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

As we get ready to perform the mitzvah of sitting and eating in the sukkah, we sought out a couple of delicious recipes to prepare that will work wonderfully for just that experience – one from our own local ‘Butcher’s Wife’ and one from an international chef.
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