Welcome!

Hey guys! I am curious if you guys know how Abraham was first called by God to go out of the land of the Chaldeans. Did God speak to him directly? What do you think?

Shalom friends!! My partner and I need your help! We are driving from DC to New Haven, Connecticut to sit shiva with family. We need to know which Costco’s along the 95 corridor have a big kosher section. I know that the one in Wheaton MD has a kosher bakery. There’s gotta be some in NJ right? Thank you friends!

I need some help—has anyone ever read The Milstein Edition Chumash with the Teachings of the Talmud? If you have, I’d love to hear what you think about it! Was it helpful, interesting, or maybe even confusing? Let me know your thoughts!

https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422625972.html

Conducting research! Please share how much you/your partner/friend/someone you know paid.

From your experience or knowledge, what are the things that are unique in each movement's curriculum for day-schools. As an example: my dad learned gemara in the 5th grade at a Modern-Orthodox school while I didn't begin learning gemara until the 8th grade at a Conservative school.

https://m.jpost.com/aliyah/article-828353

Someone close to me has passed, and I've known him for near 30 years at this point.

I'm not Jewish, former catholic-current methodist, but I'm attending the funeral. I'm planning on an ankle length black skirt, a formal black top with a black sweater, a black headscarf/kerchief, dark pantyhose, and black pumps. The shoes are my only solemn shoes.

The synagogue they attend is on the more conservative side, the me and women sit in different sections, so I'm trying to dress appropriately.

Is this okay? Anything else I should know? My parents are in ill health right now, but are sending kosher food to the family. Since we read that flowers aren't really the thing.

I'm also planning on sending my friend something. Too much? Appropriate? We've been best friends our whole lives. 3 decades basically.

This past week i’ve been thinking about how Jacob has his name changed to Israel after his struggle with the mysterious figure, who I believe was an angel. Israel translates to “He who struggles with G-d” and i’ve wondered what exactly that means. Why exactly was he named that, it doesn’t seem like it’s a positive name. And why is the state of Israel named after a phrase that means struggle with G-d?

This is for our toddler to ‘light’ her own menorah next to ours. I haven’t been able to find ones that fit into the menorah she was gifted which is a transitional one.

Good afternoon! I have been delving deeper into Jewish teachings, especially about reincarnation and the idea that the soul can be divided into male and female parts. As I am happily married, I was curious: is it possible that my wife and I have already been these two parties in other incarnations? In other words, was she my 'soulmate' in all my past lives?

https://preview.redd.it/cycimqpua17e1.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=73224e48ef282313797e945dd69f8703b179a81d

SURVEY IS HERE

REMINDER

This is our annual survey. This lets the mods know how we can improve, and this lets everybody know who is in the community, what the demographics are like, and all the other fun things about this community that may or may not surprise you. It will be up for the next few weeks. We are hoping to get to 2k results.

SURVEY IS HERE

It's the season to have every kid show blasting Christmas episodes. I find this guide very helpful for finding the Hanukkah ones for littles. https://everydayjewishmom.com/2024/11/11/hanukkah-tv-episodes-for-kids-2024/amp/

I am vaguely aware of the meaning of bashert/beshert, and fascinated by it too, but would love to find out more.

What is the majority spelling and pronunciation? If you come from German you'll be more likely to prefer beshert as in 'bescheren'. Is the other spelling just a variation that happened in time and under influence from other languages, a dialectal variation, or one signalling a different understanding of the word's etymology?

I would love to hear some family stories, individual beliefs or disbeliefs in the idea of beshert. Happy to listen to canonical and scriptural references, but am more interested in the lived religion, this happened to me, I had a dream kind of a thing, if that makes sense. The more you share, the happier I'll be 😊

I’m just curious how this community views these events, can your faith and aliens coexist? The whistleblower David grusch pretty much came out and said that the us has recovered both UFOs and non human remains. I’ve seen a lot of religious people say something to the effect of aliens are demons meant to stray you from the path of faith. Does anyone here shares that belief? If all of this is true and the many whistleblowers and government agencies are being honest do you believe god also created these beings? Are they possibly angels? Any insight you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

What are the Jewish communities thoughts on Kabbalah? I have always understood it to be for lack of a better term "Jewish Mysticism" and assumed it was a form of herecy, but I belive I'm mistaken so what actually is it and how do you practice it if at all?

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold), peeled

1 medium beet, peeled

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup chickpea flour (or a mix of all-purpose flour and chickpea flour)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint or dill Olive oil, for frying

Instructions:

Grate the Vegetables:

Grate the potatoes and beet using a box grater or food processor.

Squeeze out excess liquid using a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth.

Mix the Ingredients:

In a large bowl, combine the grated vegetables, eggs, chickpea flour, spices, sesame seeds, and herbs. Mix until well combined.

Form the Latkes:

Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and form flat patties.

Fry the Latkes:

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Fry the latkes for 3–4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy.

Drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

For the Sauce:

Ingredients

1/2 cup Greek yogurt or labneh (full-fat for best texture)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced or grated

1 small green chili, finely minced (adjust for heat; deseed for milder spice)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt to taste

Instructions

Prepare the Base:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt (or labneh), olive oil, and pomegranate molasses until smooth.

Add the Herbs and Aromatics:

Stir in the chopped cilantro, parsley, garlic, and chili.

Season and Adjust:

Mix in cumin, cardamom, and vinegar. Add salt to taste. If the sauce is too thick, thin it slightly with a tablespoon of water or olive oil.

Taste and Balance:

Adjust the flavors as needed: For more tang, add a splash of vinegar.

For more sweetness, drizzle a little extra pomegranate molasses.

For more heat, add a pinch of minced chili or cayenne.

Serve:

Spoon over warm beet and potato latkes or serve on the side as a dipping sauce.

Garnish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses or a sprinkle of fresh herbs for presentation.

Exciting news! 🎉 Here’s our very first Hanukkah-themed Color-by-Number sheet for your kids to enjoy. 🕎✨ We hope to share more fun designs with you soon. Happy coloring

https://preview.redd.it/oocatrmf7y6e1.jpg?width=1049&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a69ae416e1185ec368893cf9359c520faf4551a6

Moving a big young family to upstate South Carolina from a very Jewish area in the country. What are we looking at? Anybody know? Greenville area. We are Reform but very involved in our temple and the kids love it.

I am in Israel currently. A friend told me I look a certain way because of tzizit plus kippah which happens to be a large knitted black and blue kippah. I want to understand the situation in Israel better. In America it is very simple. Knitted and suede is modox velvet is haredi or modox. Anything else is hetrodox or a bt. In Israel it seems to be a bit more complicated. Thank you for your response.

Tl:dr: I want to understand the vibes kippot give in Israel as an American modox jew

I’m a (gentile) armchair researcher of religion and theology. What were the key differences between the two? How much would you attribute to the influence of Zoroastrianism and Persian culture?

Hi everyone, I have recently gotten pretty interested in Judeo-Urdu and I have read a lot about it from a handbook I was able to find online. I am fascinated by the writing tradition and the orthography piqued my interest. I am super interested to find out what this variety of the Urdu language sounded like and what settings this variety of the language was used. The handbook does offer some insight but I would like to hear it first hand from someone who speaks or has family who have traditionally spoken Judeo-Urdu regarding this! From what I have read, Judeo-Urdu isn't spoken anymore and it isn't even listed as a language on Ethnologue, but I have my hopes up as I would like to think that there is at least one family in the world which still preserves this variety of the language. I would like to speak with them and see what they think about the orthography of the language which in my opinion is a tad bit, for a lack of a better word, "modded" to fit the sounds of the Urdu-Hindi language. I'm really curious to learn about how they navigate the language and how they view themselves in the linguistic world of Urdu-Hindi!

I apologize if this is the wrong place to post something like this but I couldn't find a better sub. I am excited to read all of your responses!

I just moved back to NYC and am hoping to meet Jewish people, especially single Jewish guys (I'm 30). I'm looking at events like happy hours and Shabbat dinners, and there are so few available that are less than $30 a ticket. Most are $40+. Any recommendations for how us broke Jews can find community and love? Also, for some of the 'party' type of events, has anyone been brave enough to go alone? If so how did it go?

I'm really new to this and I have a sincere question. I tried reading the whole Bible by myself a few years ago before I heard about the religion from Christians or Jews.

I have a question about the messiah. In the Old Testament is there any evidence or mention that the messiah is equal to G-d? If the messiah is sent by G-d shouldn't the messiah be below G-d in a hierarchy?

I took my almost 8 month old daughter to shul today and had her sitting on the bench during the musaf amidah. She is good at finding things to entertain herself, and today it was my tallit and the tzitzit, which has radziner techelt on it. Unfortnately, she slimed it pretty good before I noticed (which is when she moved on to the side of the tallit and yanked it down hard enough for me to notice) and it is apparently not colourfast The dye has left a stain on the corner of the tallit and the part of the tzitzit going through the tallit are no longer white, but a pale blue. Does anyone have any experience cleaning this up and making it white again?

If I need to replace the tzitzit, is p'til techelet more colourfast? She seems to have taken a real liking to putting them in her mouth, and is super productive with her drool.