Most years our neighbors’ Easter celebrations coincide with the holiday of Passover on the Jewish calendar.  As I explained in an earlier column, because of the Jewish leap year, Passover is “late” and starts a month after Easter this year.  This means that the most significant of the Christian festivals occurs ...

  We often hear how important the Ten Commandments are in our society as the foundation of Western Civilization.  While many people talk about keeping these basic laws, one wonders how many people actually are able to live by them.  Aside from the very difficult commandment against coveting (a topic for another time, perhaps), ...

For the past several weeks, Temple Israel member Steve Saulten has been working on a special wood-working project.  In recent years, as a hobby, Steve has been creating decorative boxes, clocks, and other small objects out of wood.  Some of these items have been exhibited in local crafts fairs in New Hampshire. Having seen ...

Chanukah, because it occurs in December, is often compared to Christmas. Indeed, in its American incarnation, Chanukah has taken on many of the trappings of the December holiday season: gift-giving, decorations, and parties, none of which are essential elements of either holiday but which add much fun to the season. When we look at the meaning of ...

           Giving thanks is one of the most universal of religious expressions.  Every religion and culture has rituals, holidays, and customs that allow people to acknowledge the many gifts with which the Almighty has blessed us.  The Jewish tradition is no exception.  In ancient ...

 Saturday night and Sunday, March 3 and 4, we celebrated the joyful holiday of Purim at Temple Israel.  A small group of people from one of the local churches, who are studying the Book of Esther in their Bible class, dropped by the Temple on Saturday night and heard that biblical text in a way I'm sure they had never heard it ...

The holiday of Purim, the Jewish Feast of Lots begins on Saturday evening, March 3rd.  Its major observance includes the reading of the biblical Book of Esther (the Megillah) around which a kind of Mardi Gras atmosphere has been created with costumes, masks, noisemakers, the exchanging of gifts of food and, ...

            Temple Israel of Manchester is preparing to celebrate its Golden Jubilee, fifty years at its present location on Salmon Street as a Conservative Jewish Congregation.  Previously it had been located on Central Street for about 40 years under the name of Anshe Sephard and it had ...