cavernous-desperate

How do you spell Hannukah?

Balashon has an interesting post: chanukah

And there’s a song in this album:  Hanukkah Rocks –The LeeVees, with Adam Gardner of Guster, download for $7

Very Affordable Very Excellent Hannukah Music

I recommend and am right now listening to these two albums:

Erran Baron Cohen Presents: Songs In The Key Of Hanukkah– Download the mp3 album now for $2

Hanukkah Rocks –The LeeVees, with Adam Gardner of Guster, download for $7

Also, if you haven’t, listen to Eight Days of Hannukah by Sen. Orrin Hatch
Eight Days of Hannukah

Circumcision and the Lulav

This year, 5770, the first day of Sukkot fell on Shabbat. Present day halakha (Jewish practice) is not to wave the lulav and Etrog on Shabbat. When reading the Torah portion in services, I noticed that the Torah was pretty definite about the requirement to wave the lulav and Etrog on the first [...]

When is a Sukkah Not a Sukkah?

“Members of the Land of Israel Faithful movement have come up with a new way to fight a proposed building freeze in Judea and Samaria. The movement is asking residents of the area to build the traditional temporary Sukkot dwellings – and to leave them up long after the holiday is over.”
Arutz7 (Also see: JPost)

From [...]

Would Ruth Be Able to Convert Today?

The biblical Ruth is lucky she isn’t converting to Judaism in 2009. If she ever wants to live in Israel, that is.

Her moving, lyrical story of devotion to her mother-in-law and embrace of Jewish values has long stood as a potent symbol of the loving outsider who wishes to come in, and is lauded for [...]

On Giving and Receiving Rebuke

Rabbi Gerson Cohen, past Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, tells of the time he was a child at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. As he and his friends were playing basketball, the game got a little rough — as sports often [...]

Menachem Av

Tonight begins the Month of Av, the 9th of which is the most important Jewish day of national mourning, and the 15th of which is a party day for singles.

From Klein’s Guide to Jewish Religious Practice on Tisha b’Av (the 9th of Av):

The ninth of Av is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. The [...]

The Fast of the 17th of Tamuz

The 17th day of the month of Tammuz is a fast day according to Jewish tradition. The Mishnah Taanith IV 6 states that there are five reasons for fasting on this day:

Five calamities befell our fathers on the 17th of Tamuz… On the 17th Tamuz the Tables of the Law were broke, the daily sacrifice [...]