Judaica

We have all heard of Jews and understand that Israel is now considered their land, but Israel is a very young country and Jews are the most ancient of people. The Jewish people had no nation, no land, and no empire for centuries yet they survive as strong as ever. Through the centuries they have been persecuted, exiled and slaughtered which makes it even more remarkable that they have survived. A decade after Israel's independence a bill was passed called the Law of Return. This law guaranteed automatic citizenship and right of entry to every Jew around the world. Because of this law the Israeli government had to come up with a definition of what makes a Jew. They said that ‘Anyone declaring in...

Okay, if this is your first Passover Seder, you might be a little stressed. No need though, because this article has all of the things you need to impress your friends and family and make it seem like your house is the one where all the cool kids have Passover. 1. When lighting the candles at the start of Seder or earlier, anytime before sunset, recite two blessings over them. 2. Next, bless all of the wine that will be drunk during the dinner, and after pouring a cup for everyone, don't forget the prophet Elijah. After everyone has had one cup, then pour the next. 3. When the Passover Seder begins, make sure that everyone has a Passover haggadah, and if you don't have the means to provide everyone...

It is rare that I question the accepted origins of a Jewish custom, but the Dreidel, Yiddish for a top, seems altogether mysterious to me. As I think back to elementary school when I first heard the explanation as to why we spin these things around on Hanukkah, I remember I was in first grade, so I didn't really protest. The explanation was, when the Syrian Greeks were snooping around enforcing King Antiochus IV tyrannical decrees that Jewish religious learning was forbidden, the Jews had to hide their books and whip out the Dreidels, pretending they were merely gambling. I thought about that as a kid, and it made enough sense I guess. The Greek centurion would politely knock on the door, and the...

The Tallit – which translates into ‘Prayer Shawl’ – is an item held in especially high regard in Judaism. The wearing of a Tallit is an openly public declaration that a person has total devotion, love, and veneration for Judaism. Each temple maintains an ample supply of these prayer shawls just in case there is a person who needs to enter the sanctuary and they don’t have a personal Tallit. By definition, a Tallit is shawl that is used during prayer. It is recognized as being the most veritable of Jewish garments. The traditional Tallit is customarily made from either linen or wool. Recent times have seen the introduction of a modern Tallit and this is commonly made from either silk or...

Jerusalem stone is very popular for construction of large buildings. Since the founding of Jerusalem, it has become extensively used in modern buildings throughout the world. Most of it is mined in the area surrounding Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This highly sought after stone has a long and storied history in the Middle East and has been an essential element in the building of many historical buildings in the region. Jerusalem stone refers primarily to a white coarse crystalline limestone, Meleke (kingly or royal). Though there are other sources of rock and stone that fall into this description. Mizzi Hilu (sweet rock) is a cream-colored limestone. Mizzi Ahmar (red rock) is a red colored limestone...

Unlike most of the major Jewish holidays, Hanukkah's origin is not in the Bible, but rather in events that happened later. This is a holiday that lasts eight days and begins on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev (usually in December). Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. It commemorates the Maccabees' successful revolt for independence and religious freedom against the Seleucids in 167 BCE. The Jews revolted against Antiochus IV, who had desecrated the Holy Temple. In 164 BCE, under the leadership of Judah Maccabee, they liberated Jerusalem from foreign rule and rededicated the Temple. A miracle recorded in the tradition: When the Maccabees looked...

GC Services is a data processing service provider that doubles as one of the nation's most effective collection agencies for delinquent accounts receivable. They claim to be the largest private collection agency in North America. Reportedly, they maximize revenue from delinquent accounts receivable for the following types of organizations: • money-center banks; • credit card companies; • telecommunications giants; • local, state and federal governmental organizations; • and more. GC Services also boasts being the nation's leader in: • debt collection; • collection technology; • collection letters; • skiptracing; • fraud monitoring; • diligence processes and reporting. GC...

In order to consider your surveying efforts successful, the information you collect must be reliable and relevant to your objective. Too often, the data that is collected from a survey is tainted. It may be inaccurate, vague, or lack significant insight into the thoughts and perceptions of your population. More often than not, you can control these issues. The manner in which you create your survey questions and how you combine a variety of different types can help you elicit the information you need to take action. Today, I'm going to explain the fundamentals of a good survey question. I'll describe the variations you can use, the proper way to construct them, and some factors to consider to ensure...

Business blogs of moving and transportation services can help attract customers.   Savvy customers now look for more ways than one to identify the services most suited for them. Real user recommendation is the most powerful marketing. The self storage blogs or moving blogs are places, where people discuss the relative merits and demerits of storage services. In fact, anyone who has used storage or moving services can share his/her experience with the whole world.   Blogs Can Benefit Businesses   People trust people more than they trust companies or businesses. Encouraging your customers to enter positive remarks about your company can help you win the business of savvy internet users. The other...

These days the number of non traditional students in universities and colleges are growing all the time. Perhaps the traditional American college student used to be a kid who lived in the dorms, just graduated from high school, and maintained a full class load, but this is no longer the case. Now there are all kinds of students out there. They vary in age as more people are deciding to attend college later in life or are returning to college to pursue a new career path. Many students these days also have to work part time or full time jobs when they are in school. Others study part time while they work. It is also more common for students to live off campus. Basically, student life has changed over...

I am so tired of hearing preachers use excuses like, "I have a sleep disorder," or "I just came out of revival" or "I have been in an all night prayer, you know how it is Evangelist,". Um... no I don't how it is. If you just got out of a revival then rest. Decline the pulpit for Sunday. If this is true, decline from sitting in the pulpit, whether you know it or not, you sleep at home in the bed. The pulpit is not for sleeping!!! Not only is it embarrassing to the members of the congregation, visiting members, and my God.  After the devil has been beating you up all week with bills, children, school work, etc. Saints are pressing  their way to the House of the Lord looking for a blessing. So when...

Have you ever feel that it is not that easy to be more organized person. Sometimes we come out with the fact that the things are not as they have to be. Below are some hints to be come a more organized person. 1. Accept the fact that we cannot rely too much on our memories. The human mind is exposed to a hurricane of information every day. As a result the mind does a very nice filtering process and very little of what we see and hear is retained in our minds. So instead of depending on our very selective memory why not depend on a piece of paper. 2. Carry a tiny scribbling pad and a pen with you all the time. The moment you fix an appointment or are asked to attend a meeting, jot it down in the...

> Chanukah which is also known as a festival of lights is very famous all over the globe. It is a Jewish festival and they celebrate it very a tremendous way as the two most famous activities of this festival are exchanging Chanukah gifts and decorating houses. This is one of those festivals which are usually encompassed for a long duration and Chanukah is encompassed for eight days. There is no such fixed date for this festival but it depends every year but on an average it usually held in the later November or may be in December and also there are a bit chances that because of some reason it get delayed up to the January but in the history it has not been delayed more...

1. Go For Two Or Three Word Combinations As discussed earlier its not going to be possible to register a single word domain name at least not for a lesser price, so your best option would be to buy a domain name with two or three word combinations. From my own experience I have found that you can be fairly successful with find a good domain name with two and three word combinations. Also little long domain names can be more descriptive thus grabs more targeted visitors to your blog. 2. Cannot Find .COM? Try Other Available Extensions It can be a good idea to give .com domains the first preference, but if you cannot find one .net and .org domain name extensions are equally good option to go for as...

Literature Festival, from the 26th of May to the 25th of June 2009 The first summer cultural event in Rome is “Letterature”, an international literature festival that has hosted some of the best Italian and international writers since 2002.   “Letterature” will take place in the eternal city from May the 26th to June the 25th (save these dates: 26-29 May, 4, 5, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25 June), and will gather in a beautiful venue (Basilica di Massenzio at Foro Romano) 16 narrators, 8 poets and 2 scientists, besides a number of spectators, who book 3 stars hotel in Rome every year to immerse themselves in literature. The event formula is unvaried: authors, who have been...

Sferra has created fine table linens that are among the most respected table linens in the world. New from Europe, these Sferra table linens are available in many colors and are finished with hand drawn thread hemstitch hems. Sferra fine linens are also sold internationally in Canada, Europe, South America and Asia.   Sferra has created fine table linens that are among the most respected table linens in the world. New from Europe, these Sferra table linens are available in many colors and are finished with hand drawn thread hemstitch hems. Sferra is a fun and flirty brand extension of our luxury linen brand, produced in the same fine tradition of master craftsmanship, while offered at a marvelously...

> But it’s hard to believe lavish parties, punctuated by viewing of creative advertising (brief to the point non-existent for some senior executives) will build respect for creative advertising or advertising creatives. Privately, some P&G executives refer to Cannes simply as a boondoggle. One former P&G marketing-services executive asked before last year’s trip: "Why don’t they just stay home and make better ads?" John Wannamaker the 19th — century haberdasher who uttered that famous "I know half of my advertising budget is wasted…" quote would see the cream of global creativity drowning the brain cells in booze before heading back to $500 a- night hotel rooms. Thanks to...

A Human Glimpse of the Plan of God: Man Makes His Own Destiny   In this we are touching on one of the most difficult dilemmas. In this we are attempting to read the causality of man's existence according to religion. However, we ought to try, even briefly, and provide with a glimpse of religious postulates proclaimed unto the human race. In other words, what is God's plan for the human kind? We read in three Scriptures namely the Law, the Evangel and the Qur'an that God has created Man by an act of His will. We are further told that God has ordained the Angels and the Devil to prostrate unto man. The Angels obeyed the command of God but the Devil refused to obey. The Devil by this made of himself...

The Book of Psalms ('tehillim' in Hebrew, meaning 'praise') consists of 150 songs which highlight the greatness of G-d. The Book of Psalms was thought by many to be attributed to King David, although many of them are now are now credited to earlier authors, including Moses. King David appears to have drawn on other sources and incorporated them within his work to form a unique and inspiring selection of verses. The recitation of tehillim is common among both Christians and Jews. They can be recited collectively or individually and are read either as a form of thanksgiving or a request for help. Many psalms begin with a description of despair or a cry for help and then conclude with hope and joy...

Not long ago I saw a really interesting movie called Felon. At the risk of spoiling the film for some, the movie very vividly forces me to recall an incredible story from this week's Parsha. In the movie the main character was imprisoned with an infamous serial killer, who had murdered well over a dozen people in cold blood. His roommate finally built up the nerve to ask him, "OK. I get the two people. But why everyone else!?" This prisoner turns to him and without flinching basically says: I adored my wife and child more than anything on the face of this planet. I returned to my home one evening to find them violated and murdered, with the scum who did this standing over their corpses. So I did...

When speaking about Jewish food and eating habits, it's hard to isolate a single strain. That's because Jews have been spread out among so many different countries and cultures ever since their exile in the year 70CE that you'd have to talk about each Jewish ethnic sect separately to make any sense of Jewish eating habits and Jewish food. Each Jewish ethnicity took recipes and dishes from its host country, whether it be Africa, Europe, Yemen, or the Orient. So what we'll do is a top three Ashkenazi (European) foods, top three African foods, and top three Yemenite foods, and top three Oriental Jewish foods. The most stereotypical Jewish food is that popularized by the Ashkenazi ethnic sect, coming...

"Something isn't Kosher about this." This statement is probably one of the most famous uses of the word 'kosher' and it's application. However, even though this statement does in fact use the word properly, the concept is still one that is generally obscure to those outside the fold of Judaism and any knowledge of the concept behind the word is limited to food. The idea of kosher, also known as Kashrut, refers to a given object's status in regards to usage in the performance of Mitzvah. In this case, it refers to the object possessing all of the attributes Jewish Law demands in order to perform the ritual or mitzvah with. This means the Tefillin that men wear on weekday mornings must have certain...

Picture this: You're in economics class in 11th grade or thereabouts. You go in there thinking you understand the basic concept of supply and demand, but then the teacher puts all these graphs on the board and you have no idea what she's talking about. You say to yourself: How can something I understood just 5 minutes ago be so complicated? The answer is: school is not really education. It's graphs, like the supply and demand graph. If you don't understand the graph, you don't understand supply and demand, even though you did before you saw the graph. So, without graphs, let's talk about supply and demand with diamond prices. Diamond prices fluctuate, but not really that much compared with other...

Jewish culture and Jewish holidays rooted in the scriptures of the Torah, often revolve around an element of particular cuisine to symbolize an important message. The stereotypical image of a Jewish mother offering heaping plates of food to her kindelach without a prayer of a smaller portion has become a mainstay in the Israeli household. Religious culinary undertones are particularly clear during the Jewish holidays around the globe with traditional foods such as the Passover matzah, Tu'bishvat lulav and etrog, and even the Shabbat challah. Israeli cuisine takes culinary Jewish traditions like these and kneads them with culturally significant flavors into a brand new spin on old world classics...

Ever since Madonna walked in to the Kabballah Centre, Jewish jewelry got a huge tailwind in the fashion business. Jewish jewelry in the form of amulets, mystical whatnots, red strings, holy water containers, and a litany of pop Jewish jewelry , or more accurately pseudo-Jewish jewelry started popping up everywhere while people who have never heard of the Babylonian Talmud started becoming fans of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. It was all very strange and very confusing, and put Jewish jewelry at the forefront of cultural consciousness without warning. This Jewish jewelry stuff all came into the market only recently. Hamsas, evil eye charms, Seal of Solomon pendants, they're all very new, if loosely based...

Records management is a necessity in today's fast-paced business environment. No longer is it a simple matter to keep necessary records - there are significant consequences for failure to do so. Depending on the nature of your business, records are needed for ongoing customer service, tax purposes and for legal reasons. If business records are required and can't be located, the repercussions can include hefty fines, sanctions, and even jail time for company executives. The best way to avoid these problems and ensure that your records will be properly maintained is to put a records management policy into place. Keep what you need With a records management policy in place you should be confident that...

What is meant to be will be. Things will happen as they are designed. I have decided that we create our own stresses simply by TRYING to do things to death. We try to understand, try to change, try to love etc. It is all an incredibly passive way to go about things and move our way through life. It can be exhausting and confusing, depressing and difficult. It just doesn't allow us the opportunity to move forward and ignite our own soul. We become stagnant and stuck in our own ways. Captured within our own negativities and locked inside our own four walls. The simplest explanation is usually the best one. The new motto of the universe must be...Don't Think...Just Do. That mantra just screams out...

Go to the town of Baddeck, pronounced ba-DECK.  It is the home of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Mr. Bell was a teacher of the deaf, like his father who had developed a system of helping the deaf to speak. Because of his patents, he became quite wealthy and lived on an island across from Baddeck on the Bras d’Or Sea. There, with the help of his wife, family, and other inventive minds, he explored the theory of flight, making kites out of tetrahedrons, four sided shaped triangular forms. He flew his first manned flight in 1909, the first in Canada. One of the young men helping him was a military man from the USA, by the name of Selfridge. He is being the first casualty in an...

Records Management is an important part of every business. Choosing the right Records Management Strategy for each specific business, however, is as unique as the company itself. For example, while it's important to keep current records and documents close by, it's also necessary to file older records out of the way so that you're not tripping over them on a daily basis. And still, you need to be able to have access to the files when they are needed for research, audit, or a customer issue. All of which begs the question - what is the right strategy for my business and our files? To start, there are two main ways of keeping your older, legacy business records. You can choose to either store the hard...

Life is the most precious gift we as human beings are given. Everyday should be cherished and I have discovered that this is something that we as a society on the whole need a bit more practice at achieving. We should make the most of every hour/minute/second that we take a breath and fill our lungs with air and that is something that on average just doesn't get done. Our day must be filled with the joy of getting out there and living life and not simply the act of a forced survival. I am going through my own transformation due to many changed circumstances and have come to realize this concept all too well. I have found a mantra that seems to work well for me. The easiest way to put my journey into...

Poverty in Haiti It may not be surprising to hear poverty in Haiti is huge, but realizing that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere is a bit of a shock when you find out it is also home to some of the wealthiest people in the world as well. Approximately 80% of Haiti’s population lives in extreme poverty; there is a small middle class population and a very small segment of extremely wealthy people, including millionaires. Most Haitians live in rural areas or very small, often remote, villages. They live without access to electricity or even clean water. Over half the adult population is illiterate due mostly to the lack of access to education and books and the need for children...

All these year's Muslim women have faced the problem of finding a suitable swimwear which adheres to the Koran, which requires a lady to cover everything except her face, hands and feet. The swimwear available in the market were either not focused for the Muslim women as they led to show of skin or were unpractical for swimming. To aptly explain how uncomfortable the Muslim swimwear designed for Muslimahs was I shall quote Aheda Zanetti who wrote to the nation's Geographic News saying "As an active Muslim girl, I found it tough to participate in most sports, because of all the excess garments we were wearing. And the veil very unpractical while playing sports". All these year's Muslim women have...

Ketubah can be technically considered as a part of every Jewish marriage ceremony. It acts as the blueprint or the manual of how the marriage should be. It indicates the role of the husband, which primarily is to provide food and clothing for the family. The ketubah also states the marital relations the wife should give his husband and vice versa. But more importantly, the ketubah is a legal document that mandates the husband to pay a particular amount of money to the wife in the event that the husband divorces her or if he dies unfortunately. The creation of ketubah rooted from the problems caused by the biblical dowry. The dower, or the bride price, is the amount a young man has to pay to his soon...