Along with the eight days of presents and chocolate gelt, dreidels are a great way to get your kids into the Hanukkah spirit. And since there’s no Wii Dreidel (yet), learning the rules of the game can be some good old-fashioned fun for your family.
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26 December 2016
Playing dreidels at Hannukah
Along with the eight days of presents and chocolate gelt, dreidels are a great way to get your kids into the Hanukkah spirit. And since there’s no Wii Dreidel (yet), learning the rules of the game can be some good old-fashioned fun for your family.
18 December 2016
Giant dreidels
Hanukkah giant paper dreidels to celebrate the Festival of Lights and decorate your holiday
Dreidel game kit
One 19th-century rabbi maintained that Jews played with the dreidel in
order to fool the Greeks if they were caught studying Torah, which had
been outlawed.
As a matter of fact, the dreidel game originally it has been played by various people in various languages for many centuries.
In England and Ireland there is a game called totum or teetotum that is especially popular at Christmastime. In English, this game is first mentioned as “totum” ca. 1500-1520. The name comes from the Latin “totum,” which means “all.” By 1720, the game was called T- totum or teetotum, and by 1801 the four letters already represented four words in English: T = Take all; H = Half; P = Put down; and N = Nothing.
Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half; and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a “torrel” or “trundl,” and in Yiddish it was called a “dreidel,” a “fargl,” a “varfl” [= something thrown], “shtel ein” [= put in], and “gor, gorin” [= all].
When Hebrew was revived as a spoken language, the dreidel was called, among other names, a sevivon, which is the one that caught on.
HOW TO PLAY DREIDEL ⤵
As a matter of fact, the dreidel game originally it has been played by various people in various languages for many centuries.
In England and Ireland there is a game called totum or teetotum that is especially popular at Christmastime. In English, this game is first mentioned as “totum” ca. 1500-1520. The name comes from the Latin “totum,” which means “all.” By 1720, the game was called T- totum or teetotum, and by 1801 the four letters already represented four words in English: T = Take all; H = Half; P = Put down; and N = Nothing.
Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half; and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a “torrel” or “trundl,” and in Yiddish it was called a “dreidel,” a “fargl,” a “varfl” [= something thrown], “shtel ein” [= put in], and “gor, gorin” [= all].
When Hebrew was revived as a spoken language, the dreidel was called, among other names, a sevivon, which is the one that caught on.
Wooden Dreidels
The dreidel or sevivon is perhaps the most famous custom
associated with Hanukkah. Indeed, various rabbis have tried to find an
integral connection between the dreidel and the Hanukkah story; the standard explanation is that the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin, which appear on the dreidel in the Diaspora, stand for nes gadol haya sham–“a great miracle happened there,”while in Israel the dreidel says nun, gimmel, hey, pey, which means “a great miracle happened here.”
18 October 2016
Sukkah decorations
Homemade crochet lanter for your Sukkah from a common jar.
Paint with a light color an upcycled jar then just choose a similar color to crochet all around the jar.
Hang it, or them, in your Sukkah.
Paint with a light color an upcycled jar then just choose a similar color to crochet all around the jar.
Hang it, or them, in your Sukkah.
The four kinds: the mini Lulav and Etrog
Every day of Sukkot (except Shabbat) we take the arba minim, a.k.a. “Four Kinds.”
Sukkot is a seven-day holiday starting on 15 Tishrei and concluding on 21 Tishrei.
What are the four kinds? A palm branch (lulav), two willows (aravot), a minimum of three myrtles (hadassim) and one citron (etrog). The first three kinds are neatly bundled together—your arba minim vendor can assemble it for you. Click here for a guide to binding the lulav.
Polymer clay miniature of the Lulav and Etrog as Sukkot reminder or decoration.
Sukkot is a seven-day holiday starting on 15 Tishrei and concluding on 21 Tishrei.
What are the four kinds? A palm branch (lulav), two willows (aravot), a minimum of three myrtles (hadassim) and one citron (etrog). The first three kinds are neatly bundled together—your arba minim vendor can assemble it for you. Click here for a guide to binding the lulav.
The "Four kinds" miniature
17 October 2016
11 October 2016
G'mar chatima tova
The ultimate Tikum Olam blessings for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
TZOM KAL - HAVE A MEANINGFUL FAST
Tashlich craft for kids
Tashlich comes from the Hebrew word meaning "to cast," referring to the intent to cast away our sins via this meaningful and ancient Jewish custom common to both Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities.
Tashlich is usually performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. If the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, Tashlich is done on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. It may be performed up until Hoshanah Rabba (the last day of Sukkot).
Special verses are recited next to a body of water, such as a sea, river, stream, lake or pond, preferably one that has fish.
Though Tashlich is not mentioned in the Talmud, its earliest reference appears to be in the book of the Prophet Nehemiah (8:1) which states, "All the Jews gathered as one in the street that is in front of the gate of water." This gathering is known to have taken place on Rosh Hashanah.
Tashlich at the mediterranean sea.
Tashlich is usually performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. If the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, Tashlich is done on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. It may be performed up until Hoshanah Rabba (the last day of Sukkot).
Special verses are recited next to a body of water, such as a sea, river, stream, lake or pond, preferably one that has fish.
Though Tashlich is not mentioned in the Talmud, its earliest reference appears to be in the book of the Prophet Nehemiah (8:1) which states, "All the Jews gathered as one in the street that is in front of the gate of water." This gathering is known to have taken place on Rosh Hashanah.
Tashlich at the mediterranean sea.
Felt fishes in a box craft for kids
02 October 2016
Rosh HaShanà honey gifts
Rosh Hashanah ,the Jewish New Year 5777 begins the evening of Sunday, October 2nd, 2016 and ends the evening of Tuesday, October 4th.
It is a long-held Jewish practice to send Shana Tova greetings to
friends and family, wishing them a sweet and successful year.
A Little Round Honey Jar ike this would bei perfect for any jewish new year gift, or to enhance your Rosh Hashanah table.
A Little Round Honey Jar ike this would bei perfect for any jewish new year gift, or to enhance your Rosh Hashanah table.
01 October 2016
Felt apples decorations for Rosh haShanà
The custom of the eating of the apple dipped into the honey on the night of Rosh Hashana does have a special traditional significance over and above the ready availability of the fruit at this season of the year. And it is this special significance of memory that enhances the beauty and even the sweetness of the custom.
One of the fruits to which the Jewish people are compared to in Solomon's Song of Songs is the apple. "As the apple is rare and unique among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved ,Israel,amongst the maidens (nations) of the world."
Fruit of Affection
Felt beehive for wood bees
Rosh HaShanah (ראש השנה) is the Jewish New Year. Over the centuries it has become associated with many food customs, for instance, eating sweet food to symbolize our hopes for a "Sweet New Year."
Biblical texts often mention "honey" as the sweetener of choice though some historians believe that the honey referenced in the Bible was actually a sort of fruit paste. Real honey was, of course, available but much more difficult to acquire! Honey represented good living and wealth. The Land of Israel is often called the land of "milk and honey" in the Bible.
Biblical texts often mention "honey" as the sweetener of choice though some historians believe that the honey referenced in the Bible was actually a sort of fruit paste. Real honey was, of course, available but much more difficult to acquire! Honey represented good living and wealth. The Land of Israel is often called the land of "milk and honey" in the Bible.
Rosh haShanà felt decoration for a sweet new year
Honey Cake28 September 2016
A tad bit fishy for Rosh ha shanà
The Jewish New Year should be about spirituality, about Jews’
aspirations to be better people than they were the year before, about
their hopes to find and stick to the righteous path. But like most other
Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah is really about a little bit of theology
and a whole lot of food. On this holiday there’s a custom to serve
up a dish that sounds more than a tad bit fishy: fish heads.
The practice comes from a combination of a pun and the desire for a good omen, pointing to a passage in Deuteronomy that reads, “G.d shall place you as a head and not as a tail.”
Since ‘Rosh Hashanah’ translates literally as ‘Head of the Year,’ eating a fish head on the holiday became a little joke about the verse. You should start out your year as the head ,or leader,and not the tail or follower.” The head’s presence on the table serves as both a reminder to be in the lead and a sign that the ensuing 365 days will be filled with good fortune.
While the very idea of a good luck charm might leave some less than superstitious Jews with bad tastes in their mouths ,even before they’ve bitten into the fish head, that is that being a head and not a tail is simply a maxim that Jews “should strive to internalize in order to shape the rest of the year.
Additional rationales for dishing up fish heads include the fact that fish are symbols of fertility and that the New Year is a great time to remind Jews to be fruitful and multiply. And since fish never close their eyes, their stalwart eyelid-lacking presences can ward off the evil eye.
The practice comes from a combination of a pun and the desire for a good omen, pointing to a passage in Deuteronomy that reads, “G.d shall place you as a head and not as a tail.”
Since ‘Rosh Hashanah’ translates literally as ‘Head of the Year,’ eating a fish head on the holiday became a little joke about the verse. You should start out your year as the head ,or leader,and not the tail or follower.” The head’s presence on the table serves as both a reminder to be in the lead and a sign that the ensuing 365 days will be filled with good fortune.
While the very idea of a good luck charm might leave some less than superstitious Jews with bad tastes in their mouths ,even before they’ve bitten into the fish head, that is that being a head and not a tail is simply a maxim that Jews “should strive to internalize in order to shape the rest of the year.
Additional rationales for dishing up fish heads include the fact that fish are symbols of fertility and that the New Year is a great time to remind Jews to be fruitful and multiply. And since fish never close their eyes, their stalwart eyelid-lacking presences can ward off the evil eye.
HANDMADE CLAY FISH PLATES FOR ROSH HASHANA' TABLE
WHISHING WELL FELT FISHES
Bee medallion decoration for Rosh haShanà
Another favorite food staple in the Jewish home during the High Holy Day season is honey. Traditionally, from Rosh Hashana until after Sukkot, honey is served with every major meal. It is smeared on the bread over which we recite the "Hamotzi" blessing, the sweet apple is dipped into honey on the night of Rosh Hashana, sweet baked goods are baked with honey, and honey is used in the preparation of foods such as glazed carrots and sweet desserts.
Aside from the caloric disaster that this custom entails, one is really hard pressed to find a negative thing to say about honey.
The custom of honey on the Jewish table during the High Holiday period is an ancient and universal Jewish custom. It is already recorded in the works of the Babylonian Geonim in the 7th century, and probably dates back to even much earlier times. It is no exaggeration to say that Jews always seemed to possess a sweet tooth.
HANDMADE CLAY BEE MEDALLION
20 September 2016
High Holidays cards - Sukkot
Rosh ha shanà greeting card
Rosh Hashana / ראש השנה
Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on Sun, 02 October 2016.
Sand art
The Navajo Natives still paint with sand.They make fine designs, they do it by hand.
As well as an art piece, the sand is a way, to keep all the old evil spirits at bay.
Using sand from the beach and some paint and some spoons, you can make sand art as bright as the moon.
You'll need: empty jars or plastic yogurt containers. Powdered tempera paints in a variety of colors. Sand (from the beach or playground)
Paper, pencils, glue and popsicle sticks. Plastic spoons and a plastic or styrofoam tray
raw out a picture on your paper and remember to keep it simple...
As well as an art piece, the sand is a way, to keep all the old evil spirits at bay.
Using sand from the beach and some paint and some spoons, you can make sand art as bright as the moon.
You'll need: empty jars or plastic yogurt containers. Powdered tempera paints in a variety of colors. Sand (from the beach or playground)
Paper, pencils, glue and popsicle sticks. Plastic spoons and a plastic or styrofoam tray
raw out a picture on your paper and remember to keep it simple...
17 August 2016
Tu B'Av little heart
Tu B’Av, the 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the second Temple period (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.). Tu B’Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel. In its modern incarnation it is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love.
There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B’Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying, “There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)?”(Ta’anit, Chapter 4).
A felt heart completely handmade by my daughter with her first homemade sewing kit as a gift for the family at Tu B'Av
There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B’Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying, “There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)?”(Ta’anit, Chapter 4).
12 August 2016
Working with stones for Tisha b'Av
The Three Weeks is an annual mourning period that falls out in the summer. This is when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple and our launch into a still-ongoing exile.
The period begins on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the day when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE. It reaches its climax and concludes with the fast of the 9th of Av, the date when both Holy Temples were set aflame. This is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, and it is also the date that many other tragedies befell our people .
The Kotel is called the Wailing Wall because of all the tears that Jews have shed over the centuries in front of this holy place. Tears of prayer, pain, hope and joy. There has been so much crying at the Wall that some say the stones themselves look like they are crying...
Again some working with
stones such as building and creatingspaces during the month of Av, to keep in mind the stones of the Temple, the stones that can rebuilt, the stones of the Kotel.
In Solomon’s Temple, there were two places reserved for the Holy Ark: One in the Chamber of the Holy of Holies, and one hidden deep beneath that chamber. There are two places to find G‑d’s presence in all its glory.
One is in the most holy of chambers, beyond the place of light and heavenly incense. There G‑d Himself could be found by the most perfect of mortals on the most sublime day of the year.
Today, we cannot enter that place. But there is another place, beyond catacombs and convoluted mazes, deep within the bowels of the earth—and yet always accessible to those who will make the journey.
There, those whose faces are charred with the ashes of failure, their hands bloody from scraping through dirt and stone, their clothes torn from falling again and again, and their hearts ripped by bitter tears—there, in that subterranean darkness, they are blinded by the light of the hidden things of G‑d . . .
. . . until that Presence will shine for all of us, forever.
Likkutei Sichot, vol. 26, pp. 156ff
The period begins on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the day when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE. It reaches its climax and concludes with the fast of the 9th of Av, the date when both Holy Temples were set aflame. This is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, and it is also the date that many other tragedies befell our people .
The Kotel is called the Wailing Wall because of all the tears that Jews have shed over the centuries in front of this holy place. Tears of prayer, pain, hope and joy. There has been so much crying at the Wall that some say the stones themselves look like they are crying...
In Solomon’s Temple, there were two places reserved for the Holy Ark: One in the Chamber of the Holy of Holies, and one hidden deep beneath that chamber. There are two places to find G‑d’s presence in all its glory.
One is in the most holy of chambers, beyond the place of light and heavenly incense. There G‑d Himself could be found by the most perfect of mortals on the most sublime day of the year.
Today, we cannot enter that place. But there is another place, beyond catacombs and convoluted mazes, deep within the bowels of the earth—and yet always accessible to those who will make the journey.
There, those whose faces are charred with the ashes of failure, their hands bloody from scraping through dirt and stone, their clothes torn from falling again and again, and their hearts ripped by bitter tears—there, in that subterranean darkness, they are blinded by the light of the hidden things of G‑d . . .
. . . until that Presence will shine for all of us, forever.
Likkutei Sichot, vol. 26, pp. 156ff
Today's handmade kippah - 2
Today kippah is handmade knitted crochet, 100% colored cotton, size 10/15cm.
Black and white.
Black - blue - white
A kippah, kippa, kipoh, kip,(כִּפָּה or כִּיפָּה; plural: kippot כִּפוֹת or כִּיפּוֹת; meaning "dome"), Yarmulke (the Yiddish term - from Yiddish: יאַרמולקע, from Aramaic ya'ar malka (יאר מלכא), fear (reverence) of the king i.e. G.d), or koppel (Yiddish) is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, worn by Jews to fulfill the customary requirement held by orthodox halachic authorities that the head be covered at all times. It is usually worn by men and, less frequently, by women (in Conservative and Reform communities) at all times. Most synagogues and Jewish funeral services keep a ready supply of kippot for the temporary use of visitors who have not brought a kippah.
A kippah, kippa, kipoh, kip,(כִּפָּה or כִּיפָּה; plural: kippot כִּפוֹת or כִּיפּוֹת; meaning "dome"), Yarmulke (the Yiddish term - from Yiddish: יאַרמולקע, from Aramaic ya'ar malka (יאר מלכא), fear (reverence) of the king i.e. G.d), or koppel (Yiddish) is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, worn by Jews to fulfill the customary requirement held by orthodox halachic authorities that the head be covered at all times. It is usually worn by men and, less frequently, by women (in Conservative and Reform communities) at all times. Most synagogues and Jewish funeral services keep a ready supply of kippot for the temporary use of visitors who have not brought a kippah.
08 August 2016
04 August 2016
Fishes to color
Working with stones
The Three Weeks is an annual mourning period that falls out in the
summer. This is when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple and our
launch into a still-ongoing exile.
The period begins on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the day when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE.
It reaches its climax and concludes with the fast of the 9th of Av
Working with stones such as building and writing during the beginning of the month od Av, it reminds of the stones of the Temple,of the stones to rebuilt IT, of the stones of the Kotel.
The period begins on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the day when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE.
It reaches its climax and concludes with the fast of the 9th of Av
Old year Israel themed caledar frame
Easy way to upcycle your old jewish calendar: Israel images themed frame
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