Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. There are so many events that are believed to have occurred on this day, but our focus will be on just one. Tradition has it that on this day Moses returned from the top of Mt. Sinai, carrying the second tablets of the Law. This was in […]
Today, the 9th of Tishri, is the day before Yom Kippur. And so, on the eve of Yom Kippur – the day when we entreat the Creator to forgive us of our transgressions – do we stop and consider just what are the most serious of our crimes? Perhaps with some, it is anger; with […]
It was on this day in 1939 that Reinhard Heydrich met with aids in Berlin to discuss the so-called “Final Solution” for the “Jewish problem.” In the minds of people like Heydrich, Goebbels, Göring and of course, Hitler, Jews were considered to be mongrels, criminals and less than human and thus worthy of extermination. This […]
It was on this day, according to Jewish tradition, that all of those who worshipped the Golden Calf, died. It’s recorded in Exodus 32:27-28: “Thus, says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every […]
Today we are just four days away from what is considered, in Judaism, to be the holiest day of the year. Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement marks the culmination of a 40-day period of Teshuvah, or repentance. On Yom Kippur atonement was made for the sins of the nation and the individual. The […]
It was on this day, that tradition says that the son of Jacob, Naphtali, was born. Naphtali’s birth came about as a result of one of the most infamous sibling rivalries in all of Scripture, that between Leah and Rachel. These two sisters had been contending with one another for the affection of the same […]
In the Gospel of John, we are given the account of the sickness, eventual death and subsequent resurrection of Lazarus. One of the more interesting features in this particular story is Christ’s delay in going to him followed with this statement in John 11:4: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of […]
It was on this day that Gedaliah ben Ahikam, governor of Judah after the destruction of the First Temple, was assassinated by other Jews at Mizpah (2 Kings 25:22-25). To commemorate this assassination and the dispersal of the Jewish remnant still left in the land of Judea, a fast day was initiated. There is a […]
Today is considered by Judaism to be the second day of Yom Teruah (a.k.a. Rosh Hashanah or “head of the year.”). And so, on this day, the story of the akedah or “the binding” of Isaac, found in Genesis 22:9-10, is read in the synagogue. “Then they came to the place of which God had […]
On the Hebrew calendar, today is known as Yom Teruah (a.k.a. Rosh Hashana) or the Feast of Trumpets. According to tradition, there are several key events in history that happened on this day. For starters, tradition says that the creation of Adam and Eve occurred on this day. It’s also believed, according to some interpretations, […]
Today is the last day in the month of Elul and it was on this day that tradition believes God created the sea creatures and fowls of the air. The Bible says: So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every […]
Today, the 28th day of Elul marks the commemoration of the fourth day of creation. According to Scripture, here’s what happened on the fourth day: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for […]
