"Human Rights organization" founder decries "herds of colonists performing Talmudic rituals" at Cave of the Patriarchs (update)

This video of Jews celebrating Simchat Torah in Hebron on Wednesday is causing a great deal of angst from bigoted Arabs who believe that Jews should be banned from Judaism's second holiest site.Al Jazeera catalogued some of the reactions to this video. This tweeter...

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The people who dance with their book (Forest Rain)

Who are these people, who dance with their book? A book created before humanity knew what books are, A book that is really five books, written out by hand, on one long scroll. Every single letter must be perfect. Written exactly the way it was always written. Otherwise the writing must begin anew. These people, the Others of the world called them, the “People of the...

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Chag sameach! Again!

This is the final of this season's holidays. I won't be blogging from sundown on the US East Coast until Saturday night. Israel once issued a series of stamps to celebrate Simchat Torah flags that children use in synagogue. Here they are: We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help...

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Arabs freak over Jews dancing on Simchat Torah in Hebron

I saw at least five articles in Arabic media showing "Rabbis dancing in Ibrahimi mosque": This is of course the celebration of Simchat Torah in the Tomb of the Patriarchs. A much better video is here: The Arabic articles say: Jews held a noisy celebration inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank in Palestine, where they danced to the tunes of loud songs. The video clip caused a fuss on social networking sites, where the wrath...

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Chag Sameach! Some historic Simchat Torah flags

Once again I will not be blogging for the next two days because of the last of the season's Jewish holidays, Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. Here are some historic Simchat Torah flags: From Russia, featuring Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau, co-founders of the World Zionist Organization. It is fascinating that these staunch secularist Zionists were celebrated at Simchat Torah...

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Chag Sameach...again

Last year I posted some historic Israeli Simchat Torah flags for the coming holiday. Here are some more from the same article. This is from the 1950s, showing various mitzvot associated with the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It also shows kids dancing with torches, which was a common custom at the time in some communities. This flag is from the 1970s and celebrated...

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Chag Sameach, with old Simchat Torah flags

We are now in the home stretch of Jewish holidays, with Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on Thursday (and, outside Israel on Friday.) YNet Hebrew has a fascinating article showing the history of Simchat Torah flags in Israel. (These are cheap disposable flags mass produced and given to kids to wave during the celebrations in the synagogue.)  They note, for example, that...

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