A museum dedicated to Moroccan Jewish culture has officially opened its doors to the public in Fez, a city which was a center of culture, learning and spirituality since the ninth century.

The museum, which is located in the old Jewish quarter, was officially inaugurated on Monday with a ceremony that included political and religious figures.

Home to great minds such as the 12th-century philosopher and jurist Ibn Rushd and his contemporary, the physician and codifier of Jewish law Maimonides, Fez was shaped by Jewish, Arab, Amazigh, Spanish and French cultures.

It's that shared history that the museum aims to highlight, said President of the National Foundation of Museums, Mehdi Qotbi.

Ushpizin (pronounced oosh-pee-ZIN) is the Aramaic word for “guests” and refers to a short prayer recited on each night of Sukkot inviting one of seven Jewish forbearers to join us in the sukkah.

Sukkot begins tonight at sundown.

A queer Torah study group in Portland, Oregon, wants LGBTQ+ people to know that they have always been a part of Jewish history.

It’s all in how you look at things, explains Rabbi Emerita Ariel Stone, who helped start the study group at Congregation Shir Tikvah. “If you look back at Jewish teachings about the Torah, it says that there are 70 different ways to understand any piece of Torah, any word, any command, any story,” Stone told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).

WASHINGTON D.C., DC — A federal grand jury indicted a man on Thursday with one count of "causing bodily harm to an individual due to his actual or perceived religion." 

The alleged incident happened on July 10. According to the federal indictment, Walter James, 38, shouted at least five different antisemitic slurs and comments while attacking a man wearing a yarmulke in Foggy Bottom.

First of all, this is not an ad - I don't work for this organization, I'm just sharing their request here. I know people who have volunteered with this organization in the past and they do exceptional work. Lemmy is full of great people who care about others, and this is just one way that you might not have known that you could help out. You don't have to be Jewish to volunteer.

NECHAMA is gearing up to respond to Hurricane Helene, planning a long-term deployment in western North Carolina. As this is an active disaster site with ongoing search and rescue, we may not be on the ground for several weeks. Meanwhile, we're working closely with disaster aid partners and have identified a pressing need for virtual volunteers to help log vital disaster data in Crisis Cleanup. Your time will directly support victims and keep aid efforts running smoothly. Can’t volunteer? You can still make a difference with a donation.

Register as a volunteer: https://nechama.org/programs/hurricane-helene-volunteer-forms/

Donate to NECHAMA: https://nechamadonate.funraise.org/

It's a classic Rosh Hashanah musical parody - hope everyone here has a very happy and sweet New Year!

“Nobody Wants This” is the story of a romance between Rabbi Noah and Joanne, played by Kristen Bell: a blond, non-Jewish woman who hosts a podcast about her dating disasters. The show uses the word “shiksa” to describe Joanne, which means a non-Jewish woman. Many consider it so rude, though, that I feel certain that my mother will materialize in my apartment to wash my mouth out with soap for even typing it.

Schloff remembers noticing that two seats in front of them were empty, which was unusual given how packed the pews were on the High Holidays.

That quickly changed — in a way Schloff will never forget.

“We’re davening, and about 10 to 15 minutes in, two guys walk in and sit down,” Schloff recounted. “And as one of them sits, I get a profile, and that’s Sandy Koufax sitting right in front of me.”

Yes, in fact, I did send this link to my mother.

Black-eyed peas are not indigenous to America. They were brought from Africa, their native land, along with the enslaved Blacks. They were a food that the slaves recognized and could eat, cheaply. Southern Whites never ate such a food, seeing it as fit only for their chattel — their slaves or their livestock. There was, however, one other group of people who ate (and loved) black-eyed peas: the Jews.

The earliest Jews to move to America, particularly in the South, were those of Sephardic descent. Having spent much time in North Africa and nearby Spain, they recognized black-eyed peas as the nutritious and tasty ingredient they are, and thus happily ate them in America as well.

Joanie Terrizzi October 16, 2024 11:59 am

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — My backyard is perfect for a sukkah. I can walk right off the deck into my yard, which is surrounded by my garden and the autumnal woods. There is easy access to the kitchen and to the stars.

AfD’s leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, should hypothetically be leading a future Thuringian government, but can’t because no other parties want to join a coalition with AfD. Höcke has been charged twice by the government for using banned Nazi phrases; in 2017, he was nearly expelled from the AfD for referring to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which sits near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, as a “monument of shame.” He has also called for a “national turnaround” of how Germany reckons with its Nazi past.

Mastodon link

Shalom, FIENDS! It is erev Halloween! so in the spirit of spooky season, let me tell you some ghost stories from the Talmud. 👻💀🪦😱 Welcome to (throwback) #DafReactions Brachot 18: Ghoul, Please!

The vandalism comes on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Kristallnacht, which took place in November of 1938 before the Holocaust happened, is called the "night of broken glass" because thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship were destroyed by German Nazis. Around 90 Jewish people were killed and around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”

The UAE’s Interior Ministry later said authorities arrested three suspects involved in the killing of Zvi Kogan.

The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment. However, senior Emirati diplomat Anwer Gargash wrote on the social platform X in Arabic on Sunday that “the UAE will remain a home of safety, an oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence and a beacon of development, pride and advancement.”

Cross posted from: https://fedia.io/m/NEWS/t/1513998

myjewishlearningcom ⁠ Pictured is a Judeo-Italian lexicon from the 14th century authored by Judah Romano (no cheese pun intended). The word "pizza" is first used in a non-Jewish context more than 200 years later! ⁠

Via https://www.instagram.com/p/DDXnqstP2He/

You pull the string and it says, "again with the string?"