baruch

baruch, 18 days ago to random

I no longer enjoy using Babka and plan to close my account soon.

baruch, 2 months ago to hebrew

The Hebrew word for giving, natan (נתנ), is a palindrome, which reveals a deep truth about the reciprocal dynamic of giving: When one gives, they also receive in return.

In a recent study, researchers discovered that those who spent more of their income on others rather than themselves enjoyed significantly greater and longer lasting happiness. In fact, as little as a five-dollar gift was enough to produce measurable increases in one’s happiness. Overall, the self-reported happiness of those who regularly give charity is forty-three percent higher than those who don’t.

In other words, human beings are hardwired to give.

(From https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5784401/jewish/Giving-Natan.htm)
#Hebrew #HebrewWords #Giving #Tzedakah

baruch, 2 months ago to random

Every parent needs to pay attention to how their children are using computers and how it is affecting their development.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/

baruch, 2 months ago to random

What an amazing display of global unity. The Jewish nation around the world reciting the Shema prayer in unison with the enormous gathering at the Kotel on the Fast of Esther to beseech heaven for the safe return of our captured sisters and brothers.

https://www.youtube.com/live/fiS5dprr0jU?si=dpps9Czb-N2Gb5Z0

baruch, 2 months ago to Astronomy

Rare eleventh-century astrolabe discovery reveals Islamic–Jewish scientific exchange
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-rare-eleventh-century-astrolabe-discovery.html
#JewishHistory #MuslimHistory #Astronomy #Astrolabe

baruch, 2 months ago to random

A Purim note from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Rabbi Gurary from Chabad at UB.

(https://www.lubavitch.com/a-judge-and-a-jew/)
#Mazeldon #JewishWomen #Purim #RBG

baruch, 3 months ago to random

Never forget that your true place is a place of light. Even when you find yourself in the midst of darkness and sorrow, know that this is not your home.

Where is your home? Where does your true self live?

It lives absorbed within the very origin of light.

From there, a glimmer of itself escapes and splashes below.
All it takes is that glimmer to transform the darkness, that it too should shine.

— Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

baruch, 3 months ago to random

Why The Most Educated People In America Fall For Antisemitic Lies

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/jewish-anti-semitism-harvard-claudine-gay-zionism/677454/
#DaraHorn #Antisemitism #Harvard

baruch, 3 months ago to random

This is a tiny silver Shema Yisroel necklace pendant, perhaps the smallest ever made. It was handcrafted by jewelry artist Ely Greenhut.
#JewishArt #Shema

baruch, 3 months ago to random

This week's Torah reading is the first of several that detail the construction of the Mishkan, the portable temple that the Jewish people took with us on our journeys through the desert. Even the most mundane technicalities of construction are reviewed thoroughly. This is still important for us to study although we will never build another Mishkan, because it teaches us about the nature of having a relationship with the divine, and bringing holiness and meaning into our lives. It isn't accomplished by separating from the world around us or making grand gestures. Rather, it is found in the tiny details of everyday life. "Make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell within you." (Exodus 25:8)

Shabbat Shalom!

#Terumah #Parshah #ParshahThoughts #Torah #ShabbatShalom

baruch, 3 months ago to random

I am at a work conference at a hotel and ordered kosher meals. They gave me this amazing breakfast! With #babka, of course.
#babkaPosting

baruch, 4 months ago to random

The Chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once said: I learned the meaning of love from a drunk. I once passed two drunks drinking in a gutter and overheard the conversation between them:

Drunk #1: “I love you!”

Drunk #2: “No, you don’t.”

Drunk #1: “Yes, yes, I do. I love you with all my heart.”

Drunk #2: “No, you don’t. If you love me, why don’t you know what hurts me?”

#KedushasLevi #Berditchever #ChassidicTeachings #ChassidicTales

baruch, 4 months ago to random

Rabbi Akiva Eiger (1761 - 1837 CE) was a distinguished Talmudic scholar, influential halachic authority, and beloved leader of European Jewry. His father’s last name was Gins but as an adult he took his mother’s name of Eiger. He wrote insightful notes in the margins of his copy of the Talmud, which were posthumously published in the margins of the now standard Vilna edition of the Talmud as the commentary Gilyon HaShas (גליון הש"ס) which means ‘margin of the Talmud’.

#JewishHistory #Talmud #AkivaEiger

baruch, 4 months ago to random

The Jewish Vacation Guide, first published around 1916, was a compilation of places where it was safe for Jews to eat, sleep and visit. Dozens of the listings touted kosher meals, often made with farm-fresh butter and eggs. The guide connected Jews to a network of places that did not just tolerate, but welcomed them. Many of the rented rooms were far from luxurious, but they made up for modest offerings with hospitality and affordability. A large number of these places were in the Catskills, which became a hot spot for Jews looking to escape the oppressive summer heat of New York City tenements. The guide served as inspiration for Victor Hugo Green's "Negro Motorist Green Book."

#JewishHistory #JewishVacationGuide #JewishAmericanHistory #Antisemitism

baruch, 4 months ago to random

“He was, if we can use the term for a person of the 12th century, a renaissance man. The Rambam was not just a Talmudic scholar, but a philosopher, an astronomer, a mathematician, a physician, a linguist, a poet, and a critic.”

https://www.jewishhistory.org/maimonides-the-great-eagle/
#Maimonides #GreatEagle #GiantEagle #JewishHistory

baruch, 4 months ago to random

In describing the giving of the Torah on Sinai, the Torah writes that G-D spoke in “a great voice that did not cease.”

The Midrash offers 3 explanations:

1. The voice was not limited to Hebrew. but spoke the languages of all 70 foundational nations.

2. The voice is continuous - speaking to each of us now, this very day, although we cannot hear it.

3. The voice did not have an echo.

Of these three reasons, the third seems the most perplexing. After all, shouldn’t the Creator of all speak with a little reverb? One would expect the giving of the Torah to have all the bass, the Dolby Digital Surround Sound that you’d expect from the Master of the Universe.

The reason is because when the Torah was given, it was not meant to stand in contradiction to Creation, but rather to part of our world. An echo shows that the sound waves bounced off everything - but the Torah was absorbed and became one with all.

Good Shabbos! :two_candles:​ :challah:​

#Torah #Parsha #Yitro #ShabatShalom

baruch, 4 months ago to random

Yeshivat HaMekubalim, or the Academy for Kabbalists, was founded in 1737 CE by Rabbi Gedaliah Hayon in Jerusalem. The schedule was organized around prayer and meditation to achieve mystical communion with the divine. As it grew, it attracted prominent scholars from around the world, including Chaim Joseph David Azulai, Avraham Gershon of Kitov, Menachem Mendel of Shklov and Yom Tov Algazi. A group of students formed called "Ahavat Shalom" that pledged eternal love and mutual aid. The leadership was passed from leading kabbalists of one generation to the next. In 1948, the Arab Legion invaded and drove all Jews out of the Jewish Quarter, looting and desecrating the building together with the whole Quarter. Study continued elsewhere until the reunification of Jerusalem, when the Jewish Quarter was rebuilt, and study resumed at the old site in 1974. The presence of the academy and all Jews living in the historic Jewish Quarter have been declared illegal under international law by the UN.

baruch, 4 months ago to Israel

What is happening with Jewish students and antisemitism? How is the story of Israel different from the story of race in America? Why does nearly every English professor in America feel a need to say something about the war with Hamas but not the many other wars in the world? How are high school students holding up? Amazing interviews with journalist Matti Friedman, director Micah Greenland of Jewish Student Union in high schools across North America, and Celeste, a high school student, about the current wave of antisemitism.

https://18forty.org/podcast/what-is-happening-with-jewish-students-and-antisemitism/
#18Forty #DavidBashevkin #MattiFriedman #LeonardCohen #Israel #Antisemitism #JSU #MicahGreenland

baruch, 4 months ago to hebrew

The Hebrew word for speech, dibbur (דיבור), is etymologically linked to the word davar (דבר), which means thing. That’s because, once articulated, a word takes on a life of its own and becomes a tangible reality, a thing that exists in dimension, form, and resonance.

The notion that words are the medium through which ideas become things is rooted in centuries of Kabbalistic teaching and based on a metaphysical understanding of the beginning of the Torah in which, as mentioned, G‑d speaks the world into being. Based on this understanding, the Sages developed and continuously refined a heightened sensitivity to the power of speech that runs through every facet of Jewish thought and practice, including liturgy, the binding nature of oaths, and the spiritual repercussions of gossip.

From: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5801485/jewish/Speech-Dibbur.htm
#HebrewWords #Hebrew #Jewish #JewishWisdom

baruch, 4 months ago to Judaism

The Jewish community of Prague had a beautiful custom in the time of the great Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Judah Loew,1525-1609). Every year before the Shabbat of this week's Torah portion of Beshalach (Ex. 13:17) all the children would gather in the synagogue courtyard to hear the story of the Torah reading of the week: the Israelites crossing the Reed Sea. After crossing the sea safely on dry land, they sang the famous song of praise that is part of our daily morning liturgy. The birds joined Moses, Miriam, and all the men, women, and children of Israel, in singing these beautiful praises; and children picked fruits and berries and fed them to the birds singing happily overhead. The children of Prague would then take kasha (buckwheat groats) and feed the birds. This joyous event concluded with the holy rabbi blessing the children.

#JewishHistory #Judaism #Maharal #Prague #Parshah #Beshalach

baruch, 4 months ago to random

A friend of mine produces a weekly 15 minute audio file, uploads it to Dropbox, and sends out an email with the link to people who want to listen. I’m looking for a free podcast host I could use to make it available in podcast clients. Is https://acast.com my best option, or are there better?
#podcasting #PodcastHosting

baruch, 4 months ago to random

🌳​ Happy Tu Bishvat! 🍃​

This day reminds us of our duty to "speak for the trees" as stewards of the Earth.

https://youtu.be/SoBjzyOLzBA
#RabbiSacks #TuBishvat #JewishHolidays

baruch, 4 months ago to Judaism

14 Shvat is the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1935-1983 CE). He was a rabbi, a physicist (who worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer), a deep mystic, and one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the 20th century. He wrote over 60 books on philosophy, meditation, scripture, Halacha, Kabbalah, and Chassidic thought. His works are known for the vast range of sources cited, the effortless blend of Jewish tradition and modern science, and the masterful way they present comprehensive, inspiring ideas in simple, accessible language. He formed a group to experiment with different meditation techniques and learned Ladino just to translate Me'am Lo'ez into English. His writings and their many translations made a wealth of Jewish wisdom readily available to countless Jews around the world, helping them rediscover their own heritage.

#Mazeldon #JewishHistory #Judaism #AryehKaplan #Ladino

baruch, 4 months ago to random

There are records of Jews living in Yemen going back to 110 BCE. The Jews of Yemen have a unique culture and religious tradition going back thousands of years, and they have contributed so much to worldwide Jewish culture. After decades of violent ethnic cleansing there is only 1 Jew left in Yemen. His name is Levi Marhabi. He is being held in jail for helping get a community Torah out of Yemen before it could be destroyed, and will likely be executed. Thus ends the story of Jews in Yemen.

https://combatantisemitism.org/campaigns/freelevimarhabi-and-stop-houthi-antisemitism/
#FreeLeviMarhabi #ArabNationalism #Houthis #Antisemitism

baruch, 4 months ago to Women

In #Afghanistan, there have been 211 confirmed attacks on schools and hospitals, and an estimated 2.5 million girls and young #women are denied access to #education.

We need to do better. There is no excuse.

https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/2023/12/afghanistan-a-dire-situation-for-children-due-to-a-lack-of-access-to-basic-services-and-increased-vulnerabilities/