Happy Chanukah!

This year, the 8 days of Chanukah will occur from the evening of December 24^th to January 1^st. Did you know that you can learn more about the celebration of Chanuka on the Touro College Library Guides? There are many helpful resources on the Festival of Lights and other holidays on the guide dedicated to weekly Torah readings, Parashat HaShavua Sites and Hagim. From this libguide, one can gain insight on how Chanukah fits into the constellation of all Jewish holidays throughout the year. The diverse resources on Chanukah include a link to Jacob Richman’s web directory of Educational Resources for Chanukah, Chanukah audio files of Jewish music from JNUL Sound Archives, as well as a few of my essays on the topic.

Shenandoah National Park: The lure of the mountaintop

I have always been fascinated by our national parks.  According to Wikipedia, the United States has 59 national parks. Yellowstone, the oldest, was signed by law into existence by President Ulysses Grant in 1872.

The beauty of national parks is that they are incredibly diverse and each offer completely different natural settings.  If you go to Bryce Canyon in Utah, for example, you will be astounded by the “sandstone hoodoos” that look man-made, even though they were actually formed by nature throughout millions of years.

Photo from http://alexandlish.blogspot.com

Happy Passover

Seder foods
(Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Jonathunder)

Passover is the one Holiday besides the New Year which is celebrated by a majority of all Jews from around the globe. The preparations for this Holiday very often drive people nuts.  The commandment is not to have any leavened product in your home during this 8 day period; this means that the house must be cleared of bread and all other such foodstuffs. And that’s on top of cleaning and cooking in preparation for the family gathering. Especially with small children in the household, it’s not hard to see why people get a little crazy at this time of year!