“Do It Yourself” Shabbat Lighting Shabbat Candles Shabbat candles personify the holiness and tranquility of the Garden of Eden. Read More – How to do it Making Kiddush The word kiddush is from the same root as kodsesh — holy; to elevate the physical to a level of spirituality. It is part of our challenge in this world to take the physical pleasures that the Almighty has provided and use them for a higher purpose. Read more – How to do it Making Havdalah The word Havdalah means to differentiate, to distinguish. The entire ceremony is to distinguish between the Shabbat that we have just experienced and the week that we are about to enter. Read more – How to do it

Candle Lighting Times Jewish Calendar Shabbat Recipes Best Challah Ingredients 2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 1/2 cup honey 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 eggs 1 tablespoon salt 8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional) Read More

Shabbat Concepts Shabbat: Heaven On Earth It is repeated more times than any other mitzvah in the Torah, and it is the only ritual observance which is part of the Ten Commandments. Read more What It Means To “Rest” Understanding the definition of “work” as it applies to the laws of Shabbat. Read more The Number 7 Jewish mystics offer a remarkable explanation as to why the Sabbath falls precisely on the seventh day of the week. Human beings are bound by six directions…But of course there is a seventh direction. Read more

Featured Story: The Holocaust Lights
Ollendorf, Germany. The skies were leaden, the winds strong and fitful. The trees were shedding their leaves at a rapid rate, so that streets newly swept had to be swept again. Leaves and bits of litter danced haphazardly on the wind’s back.
It was a dismal scene, certainly not one calculated to warm the broken hearts of the Jewish prisoners working in the munitions factory. About a thousand Jewish women labored there. Supervision was constant and harsh. From time to time a female S.S. supervisor would make a surprise inspection; these visits usually ended in heavy punishments for us.
On this gray autumn day, a piece of exciting information vas whispered in my ear.
“I’ve gotten hold of candles — Shabbos candles. Do you want to light them, Miriam?”
I stared at my friend. She smiled, saying, “Don’t you believe me? Shabbos candles! I found some wax in the department where I work. I melted it down in one of these boxes — and here they are. Shabbos candles!”
My heart soared. Shabbos lights, in the very midst of the darkness that pressed in on us from every side! In the center of the arctic menace, a tiny pinpoint of light and warmth — the Shabbos flames.
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