There's a new rabbi in town. Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn, who moved to Miami-Dade County in May and has started Adat Achim Synagogue in Sunny Isles, knows a great deal about those who convert to Judaism. Since his rabbinic career started more than a decade ago, Cukierkorn, 37, has converted many of those people himself - in Europe, South America and

What do the divisive debates between Americans over immigration policy and within the Jewish world over conversion have in common? As a rabbi who recently became an American, and who is actively involved in counseling potential converts to Judaism, I have noticed that these seemingly disconnected controversies raise similar questions.

I

What do the divisive debates between Americans over immigration policy and within the Jewish world over conversion have in common? As a rabbi who recently became an American, and who is actively involved in counseling potential converts to Judaism, I have noticed that these seemingly disconnected controversies raise similar questions. If there a

The Holocaust was not only the greatest murder, but also the greatest theft in the history of mankind.  It is estimated that Jewish losses (in present value) exceeded $230 billion dollars. Now that the Swiss banks have agreed to pay $1.25 billion to Holocaust victims, the largest settlement of a human rights case in the United States, atten

The True Stories of a Holocaust Survivor who Survived Six Years in the Concentration Camps.

Golda Sandman was born in the small city of Strachovitsa in south Poland. At the beginning of World War II she was a girl age eighteen. After the occupation by the Germans she was sent from the ghetto to a work camp in the city. Later she was sen

The verses in this weeks Torah portion Bereishit 32:7-8state: "The angels returned to Jacob saying, 'We came to yourbrother, to Esau, and he is also coming toward you, and fourhundred men are with him.' Jacob became very frightened and wasdistressed, so he divided the people who were with him and theflocks and the cattle and the ca

Now Moses' father in law, Yisro, the chieftain of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people - that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt. (Shemos 18:1)

What news did Yisro hear that made such an impression on him, that he came to join the Jewish people? The splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek

"A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know of Joseph" (Shemot 1:8).

Gemara Sotah 11a states: "Rab and Samuel differ in their interpretation; one said that the king was actually new, while the other said that his decrees were new. And what does it mean that he 'did not know of Joseph'? He was like one who did not know

The Maharal explains that the spiritual world of the after-life is not available to us in this world because it is beyond our senses and we have no way to represent it to ourselves or to perceive it's reality.

Similarly Rav Yisrael Salanter emphasized that we do not have any direct access to our subconscious yet the foundation of our de

R' Feldman brings this claim as one of his proofs that Chazal's science is Torah M'Sinai.

How else could we explain numerous examples where the Sages had scientific information which no scientist of their time had? How were they so precise in their calculations of the New Moon? How did they know that hemophilia is transmitted by the moth

Why is it that most people would never offer an opinion on a complicated medical issue, legal issue, physics issue, etc. because they understand that they just have no clue, while on complicated halachic and hashkafic issues every Joe Yid feels that he has the right to offer an opinion even though in reality he has no clue? Just like we un

For as long as deep in the innermost heart
A Jewish soul stirs
It is towards the East and to Zion that the eye longingly looks.
We have not yet lost our hope
The hope of two thousand years
To be a free nation in our land
In the Land of Zion and Jerusalem.

These are the English words of the Hatikvah (blame m

Jewish mothers tend to get a bad press. It’s not just Philip Roth and Portnoy’s Complaint. It’s a much wider issue. In Western literature, the Jewish Mother has become an object of scorn, even worse than the dreaded Mother-in-Law. And did you know that the Yiddish for a Father in Law, Shver, also means "tough"!! The f

It is a fundamental of most religions that there is a God who has created and runs our universe. But, in the Bible, which really is a book about God and His intervention in human affairs, there is no actual command that is worded, "You must believe in God." And in a way this makes wonderful sense. You can encourage people to believe ce

In reference to my post "Am I A Believer?", several readers have told me that the most troubling issue is less belief, but more what actually happens, or is allowed to happen, on earth. To make matters worse it is religion that is often the cause of much of our suffering. Of course we must separate religion and what humans do with it f

What are we to make of Noach's Flood? God decides He has made a mistake and mankind needs to be recast in a different mold. Isn't it strange that things went so completely wrong so quickly with humanity? Didn't God know in advance?

The fact is that right from the start, when Adam was told not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, h

Since my youth the color and the flavor of Anglo and, indeed, world Jewry has changed. I was brought up in a world in which the vast majority of Jews desperately longed to be accepted by the non-Jews, and as a result relegated their Jewishness to the margins of their lives. In Britain Jewish education was, apart from small pockets

A few years ago, I unintentionally upset someone. It was at a bar mitzva where I had been invited to "address" the young man. As part of my sermon, I had said that you don't have to take the traditional Jewish date of the creation of the world as being literally 5763 (or whatever it was then) any more than you need to believe that the

God can be a very negative word for many living in the secular West. It conjures up authority, even fear, empty religious ritual and forms of worship that leave us cold. We are told that God is omniscient and omnipotent, knowing everything, able to do anything. We are given, from art and culture as wel

OVERVIEW

The idea of the ten Sephirot (literally the "categories" or "symbols") is the most familiar and widespread of all Kabbalistic motifs. It first appears in the books of Sefer Yetzirah and Sefer Bahir, and probably dates from the first millennium. It is a very conscious attempt to offer an alter

The word Kabbalah, simply means "tradition". Its root is the Hebrew word for "receive". It implies a received tradition. There have been traditions handed down, orally and in writing, throughout the three thousand and more years of Jewish history. From its very inception Judaism had different paradigms of leadership that some

AFTER FINISHING his pastrami-on-rye and his can of diet cream, and ordering a kosher hot dog covered with potato salad, and consuming the arrangement in three laborious bites, Rabbi Stephen Lerner turned to his lunch companion. "You want to see a fascinating case?"

On the way from the deli in downtown Teaneck, N. J., to his ho

Well, like all things in Judaism, I can't answer that in one sentence. With Hashem's help, I will tell you some of the most basic beliefs of Judaism, which you can use as a starting point. (And please see my FAQ pages as well).

Judaism believes that the Creator is the Only Creator, and the Only Controller. The Creator is the true One and

Unlike some other religions, Judaism is not learned in one day. There was a man who wanted to learn all of Judaism in one minute. He went to Hillel the Elder (circa 100 B.C.E.) and asked to be taught all the Torah in the short time that he could stand on one leg. Hillel the Elder told him, in what is today the most often misquoted passage of the

The connection between Judaism and Israel has long, deep, historic roots. The holy Torah clearly shows, that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, and that the great fathers of the Jewish nation - Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov - lived in "Kenaan" land (which is Israel of nowadays). The modern claim of Arab leaders, that Israel

The symbol that is used today to represent the Jewish people is known as the Star of David. The Star of David is also known as the Shield of David, Magen David in Hebrew, the Seal of Solomon, or the Hexagram. The shape of the Star of David consists of two interlocking triangles, one pointing upward and one downward, and may be used as a ta

In Judaism, a boy takes on the responsibilities of an adult in the Jewish community at the age of thirteen. As an observance of this occasion, a ceremony is held often followed by a celebration. Now days, this ceremony and celebration are often mistakenly referred to as a Bar Mitzvah. The Bar Mitzvah is not the event but the boy t

The Kabbalah, literally translated from Hebrew as 'reception', makes reference to received tradition, or, in other words, all Judaism's oral law. With the passing of time, those teachings that were transmitted orally were recorded and available to all. But some teachings were still kept from everyone's eyes, the esoteric teachings. They were mea

Although dress norms vary from town to town, boys typically wear suits and girls skirts/dresses to the service and, if the party doesn't follow immediately, whatever degree of formality in dress is appropriate to the celebration.

There are no colors that are off-limits in the synagogue for religious reasons - it's more important to be a

Because it's the first bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah planning book written BY a parent just FOR parents like us...about the things parents are REALLY concerned with. After being ignored for so long, parents are so excited about the attention they're getting.

If you've been in the stores; you know. There simply is NOT another book out ther

When I watched the DVD of the bestselling book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, I had to smile. Not because I thought the principles taught were funny, but because I had known about them for years. Not only that, they come right out of the Jewish mystical tradition called Kabbalah - although people rarely talk about this fact. The people featured on

I recently asked a Chabad rabbi if he believed in conscious creation - combining thought and feeling to manifest our dreams and desires - and if he found this principle within the teachings of Kabbalah. "Of course," he replied. "Despite all the conversations today about The Law of Attraction (like attracts like) and secret manifes

When non-Jews ask about Judaism, they commonly ask questions like: What is the nature of God? Do you believe in heaven and hell? What happens to us after death? The answers to questions like these characterize most religions. While Jewish law (Talmud) focuses on what it is God wants from man, the area of Judaism and Jewish thought that d

As the leaves on the trees begin to turn, local Jews, as well as Jews all over the world begin the process of t'shuvah, a Hebrew word meaning repentance which comes from the root "to turn or return." For them, autumn ushers in the High Holy Days, during which they turn their attention away from the distractions of everyday life and tow

Avraham sees three men coming toward him. One thing that is clear is that it is not clear to Avraham who - or what - they are. On one hand, he has them wash their feet, because the local idol worshippers tend to worship the dust on their feet (Rashi). On the other hand, he calls them "Ado-nai" which, according to some opinions is meant

What is Menorah?
Answer-   The Menorah (or Hanukkah candlestick) is called "Hanukiyah" in Hebrew. Not like the original menorah, which has seven branches, this one has nine. There are eight candles, one candle for each night of Hanukkah and the ninth is called the "Shamash".

"Do not cook meat in milk, even that of its mother." Shmot (Exodus) 23:19

"Do not eat meat cooked in milk, even that of its own mother." Shmot (Exodus) 34:26

"Do not cook meat in milk, even that of its mother." Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 14:21

"Bar Mitzvah" literally means "son of the commandment." Under Jewish Law, children are not obligated to observe the commandments, although they are encouraged to do so as much as possible to learn the obligations they will have as adults. At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children become obligated to observe the commandments.<

The Bar Mitzvah Party is held as part of the celebration of a young Jewish boy turning thirteen and symbolically becoming a man. In past times he literally took on the burdens and responsibilities of manhood, so this was a very important and also somewhat nerve-wracking time. Bar Mitzvah means ‘son of commandment.’ In Judaism every d