Back to Ethiopia? Originally Published May 30 - June 1, 2019.
A couple weeks ago we were discussing Kush and where it was and is. 28 Iyyar, corresponding this year to Sunday, June 2, 2019, is Remembrance Day for Ethiopian Jews. The date was already (since 1968) Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Unification Day, celebrating the reunification after the Six-Day War in 1967. The remembrance is for the thousands […]
Was Maimonides Really a Physician? Originally Published May 24-25, 2019.
We often study the work of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides or Rambam, who lived from 1135-1204. Born in Cordoba, Spain, he was part of a long line of scholars. As he reached his 13th birthday, Cordoba fell to the Almohads in Spring 1148, and under the resultant religious persecution the family was […]
What Is "Shomer Shabbat"? Originally Published May 17-18, 2019.
“Shomer Shabbat” (שׁוֹמֵר שַׁבָּת) is a term used to describe a person who “keeps” the Sabbath. In Ashkenazic Hebrew the name of the seventh day may be pronounced “Shabbos.” You may recall a few weeks ago when we discussed the term “shamar” as meaning to guard, protect, keep. This is another usage of it. There […]
Where is "Kush," Which Is Mentioned in Today's Haftarah? Originally published May 10-11, 2019.
“Kushi’im” are mentioned in the haftarah for Kedoshim (this week), translated in our Etz Hayim humash as “Ethiopians.” In the haftarah on the eighth day of Pesah and again the other day on Yom HaAtsma’ut, we read that God will redeem “the other part of his people from Assyria, as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubia…,” […]