Posts Tagged "figs"
Tu Be’Av: Finding Your Bashert
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice When is your bashert selected for you? According to the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Sotah 2a), forty days before a Jewish child is born, G-d chooses that child’s future spouse. This person is called a bashert. A bashert is one’s soul mate. In the Jewish tradition, if you have not yet been united with your bashert, you have a very auspicious day to look for that person. That day is Tu Be’Av. Tu Be’Av, the fifteenth day of the month of Av, was the holiday of the grape harvest during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem (957 BCE — 70 CE). On this day, marking the...
Read MoreThe Philadelphia Tu B’Shevat Adventure
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice What do April 15th and Shevat 15th have in common? Both are tax days! Two thousand years ago, the 15th of Shevat was when the twelve Hebrew tribes paid tithes to the Levites in Jerusalem. Tu B’Shevat, the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat, is described in the Mishnah as the New Year for Trees. During the times of the Temple, fruit tithes would be calculated beginning on Tu B’Shevat. Fruit that grew on trees after the fifteenth day of Shevat was counted for the tithes that were due the following year. These tithes supported the Levites, helped feed the poor, and paid for Tu B’Shevat festivities in Jerusalem. Following...
Read MoreBreaking Bread in the Sukkah
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice What is the most important dish to serve in the Sukkah? Great Aunt Gittel’s stuffed cabbage? Bubbe’s stuffed peppers? Thankfully, for the preservation of peace in the sukkah, neither one! Bread is the only food that the Talmud specifically instructs one to eat in the sukkah. After giving thanks for the fall harvest with the appropriate blessings, heritage foods from Ancient Israel may be savored, and the competition between the stuffed vegetables will commence! In the Mishna, Maimonides explains that one is required to eat in the sukkah only on the first night of Sukkot (Hilkhot Sukkah 6:7). In this section of the Laws of...
Read More
Recent Comments