True Love is not only Physical

ב"ה

One of my cousins (his Mom is my first cousin) just got married. He just post on FB in his status how awesome his wife is. He made me think about my standard שבע ברכות [Sheva Brakhot -- Literally 7 Blessings -- Sheva Brakhot is a period of one week after a wedding -- the first being at the wedding -- where the bride and groom -- חתן וכלה -- Hattan v'Kalla -- are feted by friends and relatives, during which people who couldn't get to the wedding can share in the couple's joy] דבר תורה -- D'var Tora -- literally words of Tora. In the past, particularly at Sheva Brakhot of my siblings, but also at Sheva Brakhot of friends, I have often been asked to speak.

The idea for this D'var Tora began on Purim. The first time I was in Israel, I was there on a program (called WUJS -- World Union of Jewish Students) and as part of the program, I learned in a serious learning group and one of the things we discussed was מגילת אסתר -- Megilat Esther -- the book of Esther. We analyzed the nuances of the Palace intrigue and the plot against the Jews by the evil המן Haman. Haman was so evil that a minor quibble with the hero of our story, מרדכי Mordekhai the Jew escalated into Haman decided to kill all the Jews from India to Ethiopia (127 provinces).

Haman's wife זרש Zeresh is mentioned a few times in the narrative, but always at times when Haman is asking advice or telling of his day and always in the phrase "זרש אשתו וכל אוהביו" (Zeresh his wife and all his loved ones) or similar phrases.

I occurred to me that this implied that Haman no longer loved his wife. יצחק Yitzhak (Isaac, the Patriarch), on the other hand, married his wife רבקה Rivka (Rebekka) and then grew to love her. So what is the difference between Haman and Yitzhak in this regard?

Haman, being an evil person, made his decision about who to marry based solely on externals, solely on looks. Yitzhak, on the other hand, realized that externals are not enough. You can't decide on a lifetime partner, a person to work with, build a home with, raise a family with, solely on external appearances. There has to be more.

My cousin, is one of the sweetest people I know, and one of the most caring. He is also moral and rooted in Tora values. I haven't yet met his wife but I'm certain that he made his decision based on shared values, shared interests and mutual desire to live a good Tora life.

May they always feel the spark of love they feel for each other now.

The Jewish Calendar 101

ב"ה

While I did put a link to a lot of my Jewish Calendar Squidoo lenses in a previous entry on this blog, but I thought I would give a quick explanation of the Jewish calendar all in one place.

First of all, unlike the secular calendar which is solar (based on the movement of the earth around the sun), the Jewish calendar is lunar (based on the movement of the moon around the earth) but adjusted for solar year so that פסח (Pesah -- Passover) will always be חג האביב (Hag HaAviv -- the Spring Holiday), for example. We accomplish this by adding one month 7 times every 19 years.

Secondly, the Jewish year has two "first months" -- one, תשרי (Tishrei -- usually coinciding with September and October) is the anniversary of the creation of the world. The other (which is usually referred to as "the first month" in the Tora) is ניסן (Nissan -- usually coinciding with late March or April), the month that the בני ישראל (B'nei Yisrael -- Children of Israel) were freed from slavery in Egypt and became a nation.

I have created a chart that shows the Jewish year -- see below

These are about the Jewish Months:

Tishrei and Heshvan
Kislev and Tevet
Shevat and Adar
Nissan and Iyar
Sivan and Tammuz
Av and Elul

These are about Jewish Holidays:

Rosh Hashana
Hanuka
Purim
Pesah (Passover)
Jewish Holiday Haiku (Just for fun)

Some other articles I've written about Judaism

ב"ה

As I mentioned, I started this blog on the advice of a friend. The first posting was from a question that appeared on one of the lists I belong to (this is a list for people who are either new to Judaism or new to Orthodoxy or the people who love them -- I got on in the last category; at the time I joined the list I was dating a convert).

So as to not "reinvent the wheel" I have a number of other articles (called "lenses" on "Squidoo") about Judaism and other Jewish topics. I hope you find these helpful.

Squidoo lenses about the Jewish Calendar:

The Jewish Calendar
Jewish Calendar headquarters (group)

These are about the Jewish Months:

Tishrei and Heshvan
Kislev and Tevet
Shevat and Adar
Nissan and Iyar
Sivan and Tammuz
Av and Elul

These are about Strong Jewish (Biblical) Women:

Strong Biblical Women (Sara)
Strong Biblical Women 2 (Rivka)
Strong Biblical Women Part 3 (Rachael)
Strong Biblical Women Part 4 (Ruth)
Strong Biblical Women Part 5 (Tamar)
Strong Biblical Women Part 6 (Yocheved)
Strong Biblical Women Part 7 (Miriam)

These are about Jewish Holidays:

Rosh Hashana
Hanuka
Purim
Pesah (Passover)
Jewish Holiday Haiku (Just for fun)

These are about Judaism or Jewish philosophy:

Witches and Morality
Asking G-d for forgiveness
A Jewish Perspective of G-d
The (Ashkenazi) Jewish Wedding


Check out some of my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Welcome to "New to Judaism 101"

ב"ה

I just started learning with a friend who has no background, so she's asking me a lot of basic questions. Last night I gave her an analogy about this. First of all, one of the things I like about Judaism is that our "heroes" (like Avraham, Moshe, David, etc.)are NOT perfect -- unlike "J" and Mohammad. So that if we fail (as we inevitably will) we have models who failed and repented and were forgiven. So all we have to do is what our roll models did when they "fell off the horse".

Besides, from my perspective, keeping the Mitzvot is something we do for ourselves -- it helps US. So if we "sin" (the Hebrew word is closer to "transgression" and the same word is used for missing a bull's-eye with an arrow) we're only hurting ourselves.

With that in mind, this was my analogy:

You need to lose some weight so you start eating healthier. You cut out sugar, you cut out trans fats and saturated fats, you cut out white flour. And you're doing really well for the first 7 weeks. Then comes your child's birthday party and you just can't resist the gorgeous birthday cake so you have a big chunk... and then another chunk.... oh, and the kids left a lot over, so you polish off the rest of the cake........ And then you realize what you did and you get depressed and start eating badly and give up and go back to eating the way you used to and you gain back all the weight you lost and then some......

... Or you eat the cake and you realize that it's not healthy, but it's already done. So you make an all vegetable dinner (with some healthy vegetarian protein :-) and you resolve to go to the gym the next day and you just get back into your eating plan.

When it comes to transgression in Judaism, it's the same thing. You can beat yourself up about what you did or you can say, "ok, it's in the past. I'm sorry Hashem (G-d). I won't do that again. I know it's bad for me, spiritually." And then get right back on the spiritual horse.


So after reading this analogy to one of my best friends, she suggested I start a blog that answers some basic questions about Judaism.


If you have any questions you would like me to attempt to answer, let me know in the comments or e-mail me at new.to.judaism.101@gmail.com.


Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women

Check out some of my squidoo lenses (articles):

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Why be Vegetarian?Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington