Tefillin or Not Tefillin? Originally Published April 17-18, 2020.
Hol HaMo’ed (חול המועד), literally “weekday of the festival,” refers to the days in the middle of a festival. Pesah and Sukkot (but not Shavu’ot) have festival days at the beginning and ending of their roughly week-long celebrations, and we are referring to the days that are not considered to be full festival days: days […]
Whose Birthdays Occur This Week? Originally Published April 7 for April 10-11, 2020.
As we hunker down, each sequestered with our families, we offer an appreciation of two luminaries on the anniversary of their births, both on April 11th - one still with us and the other whom we have lost but remember fondly. Singer, actor, dancer, director Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz in Cleveland in 1932 […]
Is a Bat Mitzvah a Daughter of the Commandments? Originally Published March 27, 2020.
This is a question that may cause Rabbi Adelson to gnash his teeth. The answer is a qualified “no.” (Rabbi Adelson is now jumping up and down saying, “It is not qualified.” Let me explain, please, Rabbi.) Bat mitzvah as a term for a young woman observing a rite of passage is a more recent […]
What Are Tena'im? Originally Published March 20-21, 2020.
Defined as an English word by Merriam-Webster - without saying whether it is singular or plural - as “1. formal prenuptial conditions or agreement made at a Jewish betrothal ceremony, 2. a Jewish social function announcing an engagement,” tena’im are “conditions.” The term refers to prenuptial agreement to wed - officially and Jewishly. Based on […]
What's With the Yellow Candles? Originally Published March 13-14, 2020.
The Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC) created the Yellow Candle program in 1981. The purpose is to keep alive the memory of the Six Million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. (Your correspondent also remembers the additional six or seven million Romani, gays, Catholics, and other targets of prejudice who were slaughtered.) Twenty-four-hour memorial […]
What Are Those Thingy-Dos in that Abbreviation? Originally Published March 6-7, 2020.
On gravestones one often sees פ״נ which stands for (essentially) “here lies.” One also may see the abbreviation (with a series of single gereshim) for “may her/his soul be bound up in the bond of life”: ת׳נ׳צ׳ב׳ה׳. Sometimes a single geresh is used in פ׳נ, too. Gershayim are also used for acronyms - as a way of letting one […]
What Are All These Dots, Then? Part 3. Originally Published February 21-22, 2020.
Well. We have pierced enough letters with dagesh kal and hazak. But we still see dots before our eyes! Last week we mentioned the schwa. As Mrs. Gallagher taught us in fourth grade and our parents before us, a schwa is written thus: ǝ. Did she know that the original word is שְׁוָא which derives […]