“They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking (y’mei mishteh v’simha) and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.” -Esther 9:22 Other than reading and/or hearing the Megillah, every mitzvah of Purim is mentioned in this one v...

  Purim is a pretty strange holiday. The text we read, Megillat Esther , isn’t a typical biblical book; it makes no mention of the big guy upstairs. Its heroine, a nice Jewish girl bunking with her uncle, ends up in the arms of the non-Jewish king (oh gosh!), and exchanges certain things, namely ...

When dark chocolate finally crossed over into the mainstream,  I’m sure I wasn’t the only foody to rejoice at its recent widespread availability (heck, even Hersheys & Mars have dark versions of most of their candy bars now). Well, it seems that salt is about to become this yearR...

“If an idolator gives a banquet for his son and invites all the Jews in his town, then, even though they eat of their own and drink of their own and their own attendant waits on them, Scripture regards them as if they had eaten of the sacrifices to dead idols…” - Talmud Bavli, Avod...