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The Judaism PortalJudaism (Hebrew:יַהֲדוּת,romanized: Yahăḏūṯ) is anAbrahamic,monotheistic,ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions ofthe Jewish people.Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of observing theMosaic covenant, which they believe was established betweenGod and the Jewish people. The religion is considered one of the earliest monotheistic religions. Judaism as a religion and culture is founded upon a diverse body of texts, traditions, theologies, and worldviews. Among Judaism's core texts are theTorah (Biblical Hebrew:תּוֹרָה,lit. 'Teaching'), theNevi'im (נְבִיאִים,'Prophets'), and theKetuvim (כְּתוּבִים,'Writings'), which together compose theHebrew Bible. InModern Hebrew, the Hebrew Bible is often referred to as theTanakh (תַּנַ׳׳ךּ,Tanaḵ)—an acronym of its constituent divisions—or theMiqra (מִקְרָא,Miqrāʾ,'[that which is] called out'). The Hebrew Bible has the same books asProtestant Christianity'sOld Testament, with some differences in order and content. (Full article...) Selected ArticleShemini Atzeret is a Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of theHebrew month ofTishrei in theland of Israel, and on the 22nd and 23rd outside the land. In theTanakh andTalmud, Shemini Atzeret is somewhat connected to the festival ofSukkot, which it directly follows. At the same time, it is considered to be a separate festival in its own right. Outside the land of Israel, this is further complicated by theadditional day of Biblical holidays. The first day of Shemini Atzeret therefore coincides with the eighth day of Sukkot outside of Israel. The celebration ofSimchat Torah is the most distinctive feature of the holiday, but it is a later rabbinical innovation. InIsrael, the celebrations of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are combined on a single day. In theDiaspora, the celebration of Simchat Torah is deferred to thesecond day of the holiday. Commonly, only the first day is referred to asShemini Atzeret, while the second is calledSimchat Torah. The holiday also features the prayersYizkor andGeshem. (Read more...) Did You Know?Did you know...
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Related PortalsHistory Article TheAcra was a fortified compound inJerusalem of the 2nd century BCE. Built byAntiochus Epiphanes, ruler of theSeleucid Empire, following his sack of the city in 168 BCE, the fortress played a significant role in the events surrounding theMaccabean Revolt and the formation of theHasmonean Kingdom. It was destroyed bySimon Maccabeus during this struggle. The exact location of the Acra, critical to understanding Hellenistic Jerusalem, remains a matter of ongoing discussion. Historians and archaeologists have proposed various sites around Jerusalem, relying mainly on conclusions drawn from literary evidence. This approach began to change in the light of excavations which commenced in the late 1960s. New discoveries have prompted reassessments of the ancient literary sources, Jerusalem's geography and previously discovered artifacts. Yoram Tsafrir has interpreted a masonry joint in the southeastern corner of theTemple Mount platform as a clue to the Acra's possible position. DuringBenjamin Mazar's 1968 and 1978 excavations adjacent to the south wall of the Mount, features were uncovered which may have been connected with the Acra, including barrack-like rooms and a hugecistern. (Read more...) Picture of the WeekIn the News
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Weekly Torah PortionVayetze (וַיֵּצֵא) Genesis 28:10–32:3 “He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it.” (Genesis 28:12.)   When Laban heard of Jacob’s arrival, he ran to meet him, embraced and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all that had happened, and Laban welcomed Jacob as family. After Jacob had lived with Laban for a month, Laban asked Jacob what wages he wanted for his work. Laban had two daughters: The elder,Leah, had weak eyes, while the younger,Rachel, was beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, and offered to serve Laban seven years for Rachel’s hand, and Laban agreed. Jacob served the years, but his love for Rachel made them seem like just a few days. Jacob asked Laban for his wife, and Laban made a feast and invited all the men of the place. In the evening, Laban brought Leah to Jacob, and Jacob slept with her. Laban gave LeahZilpah to be her handmaid. In the morning, Jacob discovered that it was Leah, and he complained to Laban that he had served for Rachel. Laban replied that in that place, they did not give the younger before the firstborn, but if Jacob fulfilled Leah’s week, he would give Jacob both daughters in exchange for another seven years of service. Jacob did so, and Laban gave him Rachel to wife, and gave RachelBilhah to be her handmaid. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so God allowed Leah toconceive, but Rachel wasbarren. Leah bore a son, and called himReuben, saying that God had looked upon her affliction. She bore a second son, and called himSimeon, saying that God had heard that she was hated. She bore a third son, and called himLevi, saying that this time her husband would be joined to her. She bore a fourth son, and called himJudah, saying that this time, she would praise God. Rachel envied her sister, and demanded that Jacob give her children, but Jacob grew angry and asked her whether he was in God's stead, who had withheld children from her. Rachel told Jacob to sleep with her maid Bilhah, so that Bilhah might bear children upon Rachel’s knees who might be credited to Rachel, and he did. Bilhah bore Jacob a son, and Rachel called himDan, saying that God had judged her and also heard her voice. And Bilhah bore Jacob a second son, and Rachel called himNaphtali, saying that she had wrestled with her sister and prevailed. When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she gave Jacob her maid Zilpah to wife. Zilpah bore Jacob a son, and Leah called himGad, saying that fortune had come. And Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, and Leah called himAsher, saying that she was happy, for the daughters would call her happy.  God heeded Rachel and she conceived and bore a son and called himJoseph, invoking God to add another son. Then Jacob asked Laban to allow him, his wives, and his children to return to his own country. Laban conceded that God had blessed him for Jacob’s sake, and asked Jacob to name how much he wanted to stay. Jacob recounted how he had served Laban and how Laban had benefited, and asked when he could provide for his own family. Laban pressed him again, so Jacob offered to keep Laban’s flock in exchange for the speckled, spotted, and dark sheep and goats, and thus Laban could clearly tell Jacob’s flock from his. Laban agreed, but that day he removed the speckled and spotted goats and dark sheep from his flock and gave them to his sons and put three day’s distance between Jacob and himself. Jacob peeled white streaks in fresh rods ofpoplar,almond, andplane trees and set the rods where the flocks would see them when they mated, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted young. Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the stronger sheep, but not before the feeble, so the feebler sheep became Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Jacob’s flocks and wealth thus increased. Jacob heard that Laban's sons thought that he had become wealthy at Laban’s expense, and Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as before. God told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and that God would be with him. Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field and told them that Laban had changed his opinion of Jacob, but Jacob had served Laban wholeheartedly and God had remained with Jacob. Jacob noted that Laban had mocked him and changed his wages ten times, but God would not allow him to harm Jacob, but had rewarded Jacob, giving Laban’s animals to Jacob. Jacob said that in a dream God told him to return to the land of his birth. Rachel and Leah answered that they no longer had any portion in Laban’s house and all the riches that God had taken from Laban were theirs and their children's, so Jacob should do whatever God had told him to do. So Jacob set his sons and his wives on camels and headed out towardIsaac and Canaan with all the animals and wealth that he had collected inPadan-aram. Jacob tricked Laban by fleeing secretly while Laban was out shearing his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’sidols. On the third day, Laban heard that Jacob had fled and he and his kin pursued after Jacob seven days, overtaking him in the mountain ofGilead. God came to Laban in a dream and told him not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. But when Laban caught up with Jacob, he asked Jacob what he meant by carrying away his daughters secretly, like captives, without letting him kiss his daughters and grandchildren goodbye. Laban said that while he had the power to harm Jacob, God had told him the previous night not to speak to Jacob either good or bad, and now Laban wanted to know why Jacob had stolen his gods. Jacob answered that he fled secretly out of fear that Laban might take his daughters by force, and whoever had his gods would die. Laban searched Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the two maid-servants’ tent, finding nothing, and then he entered Rachel's tent. Rachel had hidden the idols in the camel’s saddle and sat upon them, apologizing to her father for not rising, as she was having her period. Laban searched and felt about the tent, but did not find the idols. Angered, Jacob questioned Laban what he had done to deserve this hot pursuit and this searching. Jacob protested that he had worked for Laban for 20 years, through drought and frost, bearing the loss of animals torn by predators, and not eating Laban’s rams, only to have his wages changed 10 times. Had not the God of Isaac been on Jacob’s side, surely Laban would have sent Jacob away empty, Jacob said, and God had seen his affliction and awarded him what he deserved. Laban answered Jacob that they were his daughters, his children, and his flocks, but asked what he could do about it now. Instead, Laban proposed that they make a covenant, and Jacob set up a stone pillar and with his kin heaped stones, and they ate a meal by the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban called the heap as a witness between him and Jacob, and invoked God to watch, when they were apart, if Jacob would afflict Laban's daughters and take other wives. And Laban designated the heap and the pillar as a boundary between him and Jacob; Laban would not pass over it to Jacob, and Jacob would not pass over it to Laban, to do harm. Laban invoked the God ofAbraham, the God ofNahor, and the God ofTerah, and Jacob swore by the Fear of Isaac and offered asacrifice. Early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and his daughters, blessed them, and departed for his home. And when Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him, and Jacob told them that this was God's camp, and he called the placeMahanaim. Hebrew and English Text TopicsAssociated WikimediaThe followingWikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
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