Starbucks Kashrut

Ever wondered what you should avoid at Starbucks if you keep kosher? Check out this complete guide with an easy to follow system: red for treif and green for kosher!

Chag Sameach; it’s Purim!

Purim 2012 - Jerusalem

Hunger Games trilogy: Purim for young adults?

“Sound familiar? This is the story of the Book of Esther — and of the Hunger Games, a trilogy of young-adult novels by Suzanne Collins with an eagerly anticipated movie adaptation coming out March 23.”

Oh Naturei Karta…

hamikdash:

Don’t laugh.  It probably would have happened if they were alive then.  Oy!

(via meingeirustogbukh-deactivated20)

Time Magazine: Hebron, holy site, an unholy clash of politics

“Genesis 23 lays out the details of his grave in Deed Office detail, including the price (30 shekels) paid for the cave and the adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite. There’s not much about the site that’s in doubt, including what Palestinian officials aim to do with the property if they get control of it — stop Jews from praying there.”

careisthebestmedicine:

Psalm 122

(via daisysnotebook-deactivated20120)

eretzyisrael:

“Jerusalem of Gold” (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב‎, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. The original song described the Jewish people’s 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem’s unification under Israeli control.

At that time, the Old City was under Jordanian rule; Jews had been barred from entering, and many holy sites had been desecrated. Only three weeks after the song was published, the Six-Day War broke out. The song was the battle cry and morale booster of the Israeli troops. Shemer even sang it for them before the war and festival, making them among the first in the world to hear it. On 7 June, the Israel Defense Forces captured the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians. When Shemer heard the paratroopers singing “Jerusalem of Gold” at the Western Wall, she wrote a final verse, reversing the phrases of lamentation found in the second verse. The line about shofars sounding from the Temple Mount is a reference to an event that actually took place on 7 June.

This beautiful version is from the late OFRA HAZA.

Biblical-era ruins found in Nablus in area Palestinians use as a trash dump

“The city also appears often in the biblical narrative. The patriarch Abraham, for example, was passing near Shechem when God promised to give the land of Canaan to his descendants in the Book of Genesis. Later, Abraham’s grandson Jacob was camped outside the walls when a local Canaanite prince raped his daughter, Dinah. Jacob’s sons sacked the city in vengeance. The body of Jacob’s son Joseph was brought from Egypt hundreds of years later by the fleeing Israelites and buried at Shechem.”

livefromjerusalem:

Praying.

PA: Jewish Biblical roots irrelevant

ketzele:

Huckabee - Benjamin Netanyahu Interview (7.23.11)

(via ketzele-deactivated20110814)

UNESCO denies Jewish heritage in Israel, J'lem

“UNESCO appears to deny that the Jewish people has laid its roots in Israel more than 4,000 years ago, or that 1,000 years before Christ, King David made Jerusalem the Jewish city par excellence, never entirely abandoned even in times of deadly persecution.”

This Israeli political cartoon depicts Israel as the world scapegoat.

The modern term “scapegoat” refers from the Jewish practice and customs of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the time of the Temple, Jews would cast their sins onto one of two goats that would be sent into the wilderness to perish along with the sins of the ancient Israelites as a part of the High Holiday’s ritual. Contemporary Jewish practice has Jews apologize for any wrongdoings or harms of the year to individuals personally.