Passover is an eight-day springtime holiday celebrated in the Hebrew month of Nissan, which falls in March or April. The festival commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, when God brought us out of Egypt “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with signs and with wonders.” (Deut. 4:34) The highlight of Passover is the seder, a family-centered ritual and festive meal that takes place on the first and second nights of the holiday. The Jews were slaves in Egypt for 116 years, suffering under backbreaking labor and severe persecution. God heard their cries and sent Moses to deliver a message to Pharaoh: “Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me.” (Ex. 7:16)

There is a unique law in the approach to Purim. Mishe-nichnas Adar marbim be-simcha: “From the beginning of Adar, we increase in joy.” It is stated in the Talmud (Taanit 29a), and is based on the passage in the Megillah (Esther 9:21-22) in which Mordechai sends a letter throughout the land instructing Jews “ to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year – the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.”

It Once Happened on Tu BiShvat… The following story is inspired by the book “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. It has been adapted to reflect our current world. Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come and play in her leaves, and climb her trunk and swing from her branches, and eat from her apples. And they would play hide-and-seek. And when he was tired he would sleep in her shade. The boy loved the tree very much, and the tree was happy. But time went by. And the boy grew older. And the boy was given his first smartphone. And the boy loved to play games with his friends on his phone and his tablet and his video game console.

The Tenth of Tevet by Rabbi Berel Wein – One day commemorates a variety of Jewish tragedies. The Tenth of Tevet is one of the four fast days that commemorate dark times in Jewish history. The others are Tisha B’Av (the day of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem), the 17th of Tammuz (the day of the breaching of the defensive wall of Jerusalem by Titus and the Roman legions in 70 CE), and the third of Tishrei (the day that marks the assassination of the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Judah, Gedaliah ben Achikam. He was actually killed on Rosh Hashanah but the fast day was advanced to the day after Rosh Hashanah because of the holiday).

Hanukkah today is often referred to as the Festival of Lights, or chag ha-ooreem in Hebrew. The origins of this term are quite old, going back to the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus lived in Jerusalem in the first century of the Common Era. In his work Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus describes the origins of the holiday we now know as Hanukkah.

The Hebrew word for peace, shalom ( שׁלום (is derived from a root denoting wholeness or completeness, and its frame of reference throughout Jewish literature is bound up with the notion of shelemut, perfection. Its significance is thus not limited to the political domain — to the absence of war and enmity — or to the social — to the absence of quarrel and strife. It ranges over several spheres and can refer in different contexts to bounteous physical conditions, to a moral value, and, ultimately, to a cosmic principle and divine attribute. In the Bible, the word shalom is most commonly used to refer to a state of affairs, one of well-being, tranquility, prosperity, and security, circumstances unblemished by any sort of defect. Shalom is a blessing, a manifestation of divine grace. In inquiring about the peace of one’s fellow, one inquires as to whether things fare well with him. (In a borrowed sense, we read: “Va-yish’al David…li-shlom ha-milhamah“; “David asked of him…how the war prospered” [II Samuel 11:7].) The usage of the term is thus not restricted to international, intergroup, or interpersonal relations. It signifies a state of prosperity, of blessed harmony, on several levels, physical and spiritual.

Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Originally a harvest festival celebrating the autumn harvest, Sukkot’s modern observance is characterized by festive meals in a sukkah, a temporary wood-covered hut, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt.

Summer is coming to an end and the High Holidays are soon approaching! Thankfully, the Jewish tradition has a special way of easing into the High Holiday spirit: Elul. What is Elul? Simply put, Elul is the last month of the Jewish calendar year. This year, it begins at sundown on Wednesday, August 16, and culminates in Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, Elul is meant to be used as a time for introspection and reflection. The point of Elul is to set the tone for the High Holiday period, so it’s all about taking personal stock of the past year and thinking about the year ahead. Leading up to Rosh Hashanah, Jews engage in cheshbon hanefesh (“an accounting of the soul”). The entire month is a ‘preparatory period’ to make repentance more meaningful, genuine and intentional. What sort of customs are practiced?

The 17th of the month of Tammuz is observed as a minor fast day, with eating and drinking forbidden from dawn until sundown. Like Tisha B’Av, which comes just three weeks later, the 17th of Tammuz (often called by its Hebrew name, Shiva Asar b’Tammuz) is said to commemorate not to just one calamitous event in Jewish history, but several tragedies of the Jewish people. The Mishnah in Taanit 4:6 lists five events that occurred on the 17th of Tammuz: Moses broke the tablets of law he had been given on Mount Sinai, the priests in the First Temple stopped offering the Tamid (daily) sacrifice because Jerusalem was besieged and they ran out of sheep, the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in the Second Temple Period, a Roman general named Apostomos burned a Torah scroll, and an idol was erected in the Temple by the Romans.