The Three Weeks represent a progression of increasingly intense mourning practices: The Three Weeks (July 2–July 15, 2026): Commences the mourning period. Traditional customs include refraining from hosting weddings, playing live music, and getting haircuts or shaving. The Nine Days (July 16–July 23, 2026): Beginning on the 1st of Av, mourning is intensified. During this time, it is customary…
Tu BiShvat (Ti BiShavat, Tu B’shevat, Tu B’Shevat, Tu Bishvat) is the Jewish new year for trees. It occurs on the 15th day of the Shvat month in the Jewish calendar. This is a lunar solar calendar, which means that the months are based on the lunar cycle, but years are based on solar years. This keeps Jewish holidays around…
Why Hanukkah Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) is the winter “festival of lights,” celebrated by nightly candle lighting, special blessings, and eating tasty foods. Holiday traditions and observance vary by different origins and sects of Judaism. In the second century BCE, Judea was invaded by a Seleucid king who tried to force the Jews to adopt Greek culture and beliefs. The…
Shavout also know as, the “Feast of Weeks,” is celebrated seven weeks after Passover (Pesach). Since the counting of this period (sefirat ha-omer) begins on the second evening of Passover, Shavuot takes place exactly 50 days after the (first) seder. Although its origins are to be found in an ancient grain harvest festival, Shavuot has long been identified with the giving of the…
Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that comes five days after Yom Kippur. Sukkot celebrates the gathering of the harvest and commemorates the miraculous protection G‑d provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. We celebrate Sukkot by dwelling in a foliage-covered booth (known as a sukkah) and by taking the “Four Kinds” (arba minim), four special species of vegetation. Sukkot also means “booths” or “huts” in…
Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement.” It is the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish year and is a fast day. According to tradition, at the end of Yom Kippur, God “seals” our fates for the coming year (i.e., whether we will be inscribed in the Book of Life). The main themes of this day are sin, repentance…
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) on both mornings of the holiday (except on Shabbat), which is normally done in the synagogue as part of the day’s services. Rosh Hashanah feasts traditionally include round challah bread (studded with raisins) and apples dipped in honey, as well as other foods that symbolize our wishes for a sweet year. Other Rosh Hashanah observances include candle lighting in the evenings…
Felonious Monk is celebrating Tu Bishvat with a (daydream) hike in the Holyland! He is resting against an olive tree that is hundreds of years old. He reflects on how peaceful it is here with an ancient symbol of peace (remember the dove and the olive branch from the story of Noah?). He says a quiet prayer asking peace for…
Let me teach you a bit about the origins of the food customs associated with the eight days of Hanukkah – potato latkes. Early texts recount the rebellion, the recapture of the temple and rededication ceremony, but references to the “miracle” connected to Hanukkah do not appear until nearly 600 years later. We learn that the remaining supply of consecrated…
Passover or Pesach is the second most important holy day of the Jewish year and The Seder is the most commonly celebrated Jewish ritual, performed by Jews all over the world. Passover commemorates the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when…
Felonious is looking forward to making new friends, but he is worried that he will be shunned when people find out that he was in prison. If people could only get to know him before making up their minds! They would see that he is truly sorry for his crime. He is not that guy anymore! Overcoming his fears of…
This is the first of many of Felonious Monk’s adventures #1 Prison inmates are very grateful to the volunteers who come to visit them. Every Institution has a volunteer appreciation event annually. One lovely feature of this event is an opportunity for each guest to pick a gift from tables of crafts and artwork that have been made by the…
The Magen David is a widely recognized symbol of Judaism. The literal translation is ‘shield of David,’ referring to King David of the Bible. This Magen David is ‘inter-species art.’ My first lovebird was a female with a strong nesting drive. No paper could be safely left in her presence because she shredded everything that she could get her beak…
Every 14th day of Adar on the Hebrew calendar Jewish people celebrate Purim. It’s a joyous holiday that marks the time the Persian Jewish population was saved from genocide. Okay, while Purim does have rather dark underpinnings, it really is supposed to be a fun celebration of survival full of wine, noisemakers and hamantaschen – the triangle cookie-like pastry with…
The Basic Purim StoryA Brief Retelling of the Book of Esther (Megillah) A Fateful Party It all began in Ancient Persia in the fourth century BCE. The Holy Temple that had stood in Jerusalem was destroyed more than 50 years earlier, and the Jews were subjects of the mighty Persian empire that extended over 127 lands. Three years after…
The Law of Return is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews the right to come and live in Israel and to gain Israeli citizenship. Section 1 of the Law of Return declares: “every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh [immigrant].” Wikipedia and become an Israeli citizen. For the purposes of…