It is parashat Terumah time, Rosh Chodesh Adar is this Shabbat, which is also Shabbat parashat Shekalim (the Half Shekel offering). In parashat Terumah, beginning in Exodus, chapter 25 ...

By accepting the Torah, the Jews themselves became a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation (Shemos 19:6). However, Chazal tell us (Shabbat 88a) that their acceptance of the Torah was under duress.

At times we structure public collections at a flat rate, like the giving of the half-shekel, whose funds were directed towards the Trumat haLishka, responsible for Temple daily maintenance and ...

In other words, the Jewish people, first through Abraham recognized monotheism in the world, and later through G-d’s giving ...

In case of abuse, Report this post. The month of Adar was designated as the collection month for the half shekel, given at the time of the Temple. Tables were set up all over the country by ...

“These gifts,” he says, “are all voluntary, each person giving what their heart prompted, except the silver, which was brought by all in equal quantities, a half-shekel.” Like so much of ...

This Shabbat is Shabbat Shekalim, when we read from the Torah that each adult in the congregation was to donate a half shekel to support the needs of the community. Most people report that doing good ...

(John 6:68-69) Other people also recognised Peter as the leader of the twelve, as when the collectors of the half-shekel tax approached him (not Matthew, the former tax collector!) to ask whether ...

Of all the vessels in the Mikdash, the kiyor is something of a conundrum. Is it one of the main vessels in the Mikdash, like the Menorah, Shulchan, etc., or not?

Having skipped a grade, I was the youngest in my ninth-grade science class. I was used to raising my hand in class and loved to engage with the teacher. But this time, I immediately felt I had ...

Jews have been laughing from the very beginning. When G-d told 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah that they would have a child, “Abraham fell flat on his face and laughed” (Genesis, 17 ...