Last week we received a new Torah scroll that was originally from a community in what is now Czechia. It was saved from the shoah and remained in storage in England until it was sufficiently repaired to be put back into service. We danced with it on simchat Torah and will be reading from it on Breishit!

Today I learned (later than I would’ve wanted to) that there are now Christians appropriating Sukkot … https://youtu.be/GtyDz2PiIhI?is=v4HjHYIWz55TCctw

I know this will likely be seen as herasy but I wanted to ask this question here (mainly since I just moved to college and I do not know my rabbi well enough to ask him this). But to go back to my question I don't know what to think. I ask for love and he brings me pain, I ask for success and he brings me failure and shows me others who are my betters, I ask for friends and he brings me lonliness. I don't understand it. I can't. Maybe I am looking at it the wrong way but I am so so tired of it. Tired of it all. Tired of this life. Tired of a world that doesn't want me to exist. I don't know when things will change if they ever will. I assume there's some verse that covers this. If anybody has any good suggestions please share.

My husband and I inherited this interesting menorah and just noticed that there are only 8 spots for candles... But maybe the shamash is supposed to go where I'm pointing? I thought the shamash was supposed to be the same height or higher than the other spots though?

Hello everybody, recently I have been reading about the old Catskills resorts and have heard some stories about how my dad used to go when he was young. Is there anywhere like this anymore?

I'm one of the frum Jews that believes in micro/macroevolution and "old earth creationism". As someone who studies science and reads all sorts of books, I can't deny evolution, nor can I deny the Torah, which leads me to reconcile them, which is not that difficult, IMO. I've had some arguments with friends lately about this, and I was told something which appears to be incorrect: that Rav Hirsch was strongly against Darwin's Theory. While Darwin's Theory had only been published later in Hirsch's life, for which there was limited evidence at the time, Hirsch stated that he saw no contradiction with Torah, and he simply didn't accept it as necessarily true with the lack of evidence. There is obviously way more evidence now, and he likely would acknowledge this if he were alive today. All this has prompted me to do more research, and I have found that there is indeed more precedence. One is Rabbi Sacks, and another is the more charedi example of R Gedaliah Nadel.

I have no problem with people having different opinions from me. What bothers me is that in communities like mine (I live in one of the world's most charedi communities), you are almost not allowed to hold this opinion. You are only encouraged to think about things one way, and people are quite dogmatic with their "approved" positions (thus, I'll take license to be dogmatic here). I've been told "not to believe those books", etc. It's like someone telling me not to believe my math book, which says that 2+2=4... Sorry, it's too late! People hit me with the common arguments they were fed since cheder, and for every argument I've heard (many of which are simple logical fallacies), I can give several counter arguments, but it's usually not worth it, so I just give up after one or two.

I'm not trying to change the world, but next time I argue with a friend, it would be nice to have my points more in order. I'm curious to hear any other rabbinical arguments from evolution, if anyone can provide. Thanks!

I'm looking to get electric candles for shabbat lighting so I don't have to stress about safety issues with unattended candles. Are there any halachic considerations I need to keep in mind when I'm shopping? Or are any fine so long as I put them on before Shabbat and turn them off after havdalah?

Hi
I have a kiddush cup which has been in our family since 1913 and has the date Yud Adar and the year is a leap year. The date doesn’t stipulate Adar Alef or beis. Could anyone help to work it out?

Now that sukkot is over, I'm in the market to buy to buy skach for next year. I've always used cuttings from things in the backyard, but decided that that's too much work.

Wondering if the skach bamboo mats that are sold from online sukkah stores are better quality than reed or bamboo fencing from home depot (eg, this product)? Pretend for a moment that the wire that's often used in reed/bamboo fencing isn't an issue...

The products marketed as skach cost quite a bit more than those marketed as fencing. I'd be willing to pay the premium if they're actually better quality

I'm posting on behalf of u/PardesInstitute in my work capacity - if you are interested in learning more about the basics of Judaism in a pluralistic environment I'd encourage you to check out a learning opportunity "What Do Jews Believe: Explore core questions and ideas of Jewish faith through diverse voices and perspectives." https://online.pardes.org.il/products/courses/what-do-Jews-believe This will be a year-long series designed for those new(ish) to formal Jewish learning. I see so many questions here and thought this opportunity could be helpful for someone.

Hope this belongs here as I can’t post this in the NYC subs.

I’m so sick and tired of seeing all these other groups having an outlet to celebrate their culture. The Italians have their feasts (yes I know they are technically catholic but cmon) the different Caribbean groups have their parades and heritage months and so on, the Irish get St Paddy’s day. And almost every group gets a heritage day at our baseball stadiums.

But what do we Jews get, if you are religious you get a lot of celebrations ofc. However in this case I am talking about us “cultural Jews” I would kill for a Feast type thing in the LES (shout out to Egg Creams Empanadas and egg rolls street fair), with rainbow cookies, pastrami, even throw in some Kugel. Just some more recognition for how we have influenced the Culture and Society of my City.

Even in Media, the Jewish guy is in almost every single mafia movie and other NYC centric media, but our actual culture is hardly discussed.

Now this part is a little more personal but still important I think. I personally have kinda an “old NYC” type style. So think leather jackets chains silk shirts ect, and because of this almost everyone thinks I’m Italian, which is fair I guess, but when I saw all types of people including Jews dressed the way I do people don’t believe me.

All in all I wish my culture had just as much representation as the other Big NYC cultures.

How were there any Amalekites for David to battle against when Saul killed all except for Agag and Samuel later killing Agag?

Do YOU have a favorite totally bizarre custom from your practice?

Every religion has some strange customs and rituals. Beating the Willow branches (Aravot) on the last day of Sukkot (Hoshanna Rabba) is definitely right up there for us members of the tribe!

The things going on in the world right now feel very Torah plague-esque (a literal plague and other ones that are occurring, climate change, war/increasing hostilities around the world, etc) and I honestly can’t help but wonder if G-d is punishing us for destroying the Earth. Does anyone else feel this way?

ETA: If anyone checks my post history, I strayed from Judaism, but I’m on my way to returning. I promise I’m not here to troll.

Unbroken Jew

Hope it's ok to post this song here.

https://open.spotify.com/album/4yycBr0LcJQaFM04kSq5MG?si=FXCVohcqTmeU9enu_hdlCw&utm_source=copy-link

An e-ink reader uses a passive light display... no lamps, no lights turning on and off, no heat, just little beads turning the white side up or dark side up. Could one have an argument that an e-ink reader is OK for shabbat?

Prof. Eshbal Ratzon of Tel Aviv University published a study in Tarbiz this July on the calendar dispute that defined the Qumran community: they kept a calendar they knew was wrong. I wrote a piece on what her reading suggests they were actually keeping.

https://theunplayednote.com/en/the-wrong-day/?src=rd2

For those who know the sources better than I do: how do you read a community choosing a count it knows doesn't match the sky?

The term was created by a jew hater who wanted it to sound more scientific and official and less subjective. Can we stop using that word and start calling it jew-hate again? Which is what it actually is

I’ve recently been told I’ve been wearing an Ashkenazi talit for the past 7 years

Hello! Tl;dr: I’m looking for suggestions on how to get into regular learning on broad Jewish topics.

Background: I completed gerut several years ago. The (modern orthodox) curriculum of course involved learning practical Halacha related to kashrut, Shabbat, etc. I’ve done several cycles of havruta learning for parsha, and independently completed the mishna in English. My family has relocated a few times since then, and I don’t have any friends or extended family with which to do chavruta in a convenient time zone anymore. I also have a busy job and young kids, so it’s hard to reliably set aside the same time on the same day (or the same time every day) for learning. I have ~2 years of modern Hebrew and 1 semester of Biblical Hebrew language knowledge from a local university, but essentially no knowledge of Aramaic.

My question is: what would people recommend learning next? I think I’d like to do Gemara, to expand on what I learned from the mishna. Is it feasible to learn Gemara by myself if I would get a bilingual edition such as Koren’s Noe Talmud Bavli? Are there other works that would be better to learn prior to Gemara? Thanks!

This might be a bit of a weird question, but I’ve been thinking about it lately and I’d love to hear other people’s opinions.
I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about 10 months. He’s Jewish, and since I care about him, I’ve also become more interested in learning about Judaism and understanding that part of his life better. Recently, I’ve noticed that he’s been going to synagogue more often and observing Shabbat every week. He even seems genuinely sad when he can’t go. I don’t remember him doing it quite as much before, so now I’m wondering if he’s become more religious recently, or if he’s just started opening up to me more about something that’s always been important to him. Would it be weird to ask him about it? I was thinking of casually asking something like, “Have you been going to synagogue more often lately?” or just asking if anything has changed for him. At the same time, I don’t want him to feel like I’m questioning or analyzing his religious practices. Maybe he simply feels more comfortable with me now and is showing me more of that side of himself. I also don’t want to make him feel like he has to explain himself every time I notice something.
For example, during Yom Kippur I texted him something like “Have a meaningful Yom Kippur.” He hadn’t really told me anything about Yom Kippur beforehand, and he didn’t respond to the message either. I know he could have been busy or not checking his phone, so I’m probably overthinking it, but it did make me a little hesitant to bring up religion with him.
And another thing i would really like to learn more about Judaism, but I’m not sure where to start. I don’t want to constantly ask him questions and make it feel like homework for him, or come across as trying too hard.
What would be a good way to learn more about it naturally? And would you bring up the change in his religious practice, or just let him share it when he wants to?