Before the reading of the Torah, on the first day of Shavuot, a beautiful 11th century poem called Akdamut is recited in the Synagogue. This poem was written by Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak from Worms, Germany. Akdamut consists of praise for God, His Torah, and His people. In most synagogues the poem is read responsively:…
By DR. JUERGEN BUEHLER, ICEJ— For the Jewish people, Shavuot (Hebrew for “weeks”) marks the events described in Exodus 19, when God came down in flames of fire on Mount Sinai and gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites seven weeks after their Exodus from Egypt. This is considered the moment Israel was born as…
A central tenet in the faith life of any observant Jew is prayer. In synagogue, Jews join formal prayer services three times a day, every day. In addition to that they have dozens of spontaneous prayers for everything from washing hands to throwing out bread. The Siddur is the Jewish prayer book which contains all…
What if Moses had Facebook?
By GONEN GINAT, ISRAEL HAYOM— One of the basic principles of Judaism is that there are no coincidences. Things don’t just happen for no reason. Everything is guided from above. A bird doesn’t chirp at a specific moment by chance; a cigarette butt hurled onto the sidewalk doesn’t accidentally roll into a crevice and become…
By YORAM ETTINGER, 1. Rosh Hashanah and the Shofar (ritual ram’s horn) symbolize and commemorate: *The annual reaffirmation of faith in God; *The first human-being, Adam, was created on Rosh Hashanah, the sixth day of Creation, the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrey; *The opening of Noah’s Ark following the flood; *The almost-sacrifice…
By RABBI TULY WEISZ, ISRAEL365— To read more fascinating and inspiring articles about the Shofar, please visit https://israel365.co.il/Home/RoshHashanah# The Shofar was used as a clarion call at specific moments throughout the Bible. One of the prominent places the Shofar appears is to alert Israel to the Jubilee Year. You shall count for yourself seven cycles of…
By GIULIO MEOTTI, ARUTZ 7— The century of Joseph Goebbels has taught all of us that a lie starts as a very small one, but if it is not corrected, it festers like a virus destroying truth. A few days ago, the United Church of Canada, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, and South Africa’s government…
BY TRAVELUJAH— It is commonly believed today that the Jewish festival of Shavuot and the Christian holy day of Pentecost have little, if anything, to do with one another. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the two are actually the same holiday, albeit with varying traditions and an extended interpretation on the Christian…
BY RABBI SHRAGA SIMMONS, AISH It is ironic that Shavuot is such a little-known holiday. Because in fact, Shavuot commemorates the single most important event in Jewish history ― the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Shavuot is the culmination of the seven-week-long “counting of the Omer” that occurs following Passover. The very name…