Category Archives: Holidays

By Robert J. Avrech | April 6, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Exodus Edition

Tweet On Passover the Jewish people are instructed to envision that they are experiencing the Exodus from Egypt. During the Passover seder (meal) we reenact—through sacred memory animated by ritual—the passage from bondage to slavery. The Torah tells us that the Jews left Egypt with the spoils of their oppressors—compensation for 400 years of cruelty. [...]

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By Robert J. Avrech | March 30, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood Hats for Passover

Tweet Passover is almost here. Cleaning, changing dishes, and buying Passover food takes up a huge amount of time and energy. Observant Jews also take the opportunity to purchase new clothing in honor of the holiday in which we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Orthodox women cover their heads in synagogue—a sign of modesty—thus [...]

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By Robert J. Avrech | April 17, 2011

Passover, 2011: In Every Generation

Tweet A rare copy of a Passover Haggadah printed in Munkacs, with a forward by the Munkacs Rebbe, Rav Chaim Elazar Spira, 1930’s. Courtesy, The Itzkovic Family, Los Angeles. Tweet During the Passover seder we recite the following: For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation, there [...]

Also posted in Passover | 21 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | September 8, 2010

Rosh Hashanah: The Sound of the Shofar

Tweet This evening begins the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In fact, the name Rosh Hashanah is not found in the Torah. The holiday is called Yom Ha-Zikkaron the Day of Remembrance, and Yom Teruah the Day of Sounding the Shofar. The blasts of the ram’s horn call us to accept personal [...]

Posted in Holidays | 4 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | May 18, 2010

Shavuot 2010, The Path to Freedom

Tweet Last night, our friend Sol came to visit. He showed us a sefer Torah, a Torah scroll, he commissioned several years ago. Originally from Munkacs, Sol was transported to Auschwitz where over one hundred members of his family were gassed, shot, hung, and tortured to death. Starving and racked with disease, Sol fasted on [...]

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By Robert J. Avrech | December 25, 2008

A (somewhat clumsy) Merry Christmas

Tweet Marceline Day waits for Santa. Karen and I founded Seraphic Secret as a memorial for our son, Ariel Chaim ZT’L. Inevitably, as time passed, we widened our topics to include politics, religion, Hollywood, family life, how I married Karen, and of course, the Arab Muslim terrorist threat to Israel and the West. We always [...]

Posted in Holidays | 33 Responses