The short answer is a resounding NO. You might even say 13 is an auspicious number in Judaism. Gematria is the Jewish practice of assigning a numeric value to each letter in the alphabet. Through this method a word gains numbers and vis versa. For 13 you get the Hebrew word for “one” אחד. In…
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(A Torah scroll laid out for repair by a sofer, a Hebrew scribe) One of the things that bothers me a great deal is the believe by many (Jews and non-Jews) that there is a single true Jewish belief on everything from God to food. You can image how happy I was to see this…
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What exactly is REFORM Judaism? Like all things Jewish, it’s complicated. Rabbi Chester will share facts about its formation and how it has evolved. This class will help you better understand this branch of Judaism. Reform Judaism: Past, Present, Future: A Journey In Change Join this class, to learn about the development of Reform…
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It’s 2022, a good time to start a basic Judaism class! Here are the ones I’ve been told about so far. I will continue to add to these as more come in. Intro to Judaism Maybe you have always wanted to better understand the Aleph-Bet? Perhaps you don’t quite understand the difference between Torah,…
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I love the Tenement Museum. I’ve been there several times – anytime I get to New York. I signed up for their email and have attended their online tours. Their recent email has this fascinating image of a ticket. Here is their description of this item. This High Holiday services ticket, currently on display on…
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Last year Cantor Linda Hirschhorn of Beth Sholom in San Leandro explained the VERY confusing issue of HOW MANY DAYS IS SUKKOT? I saved her remarks to share with you at the appropriate time. At services I was asked if Sukkot was seven or eight days and I first said eight and then immediately corrected myself…
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