2014 Jewish Calendar
WHAT’S NEW FOR CHANUKAH 2014/5775?
- Chanukah Guide by Saber Design Learn how to light the candles and say the blessings with this app. Play dreidel and share a picture
- Chai on Chanukah by Valarmbash! FREE for a limited time interactive family fun with games, stories and audio
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- Light the Menorah by RustyBrick on your iPhone/iPad with the blessings sung professionally by Mo Kiss
- Chag HaChanukahחג החנוכה by JordanMeir Includes songs, holidayFAQs, send-a-postcard and the blessings (in Hebrew)
- Sing-a-long with Chanukah Songs by ShaneB
- CH-app-Y CHANUKAH TO YOU (scroll down to last year’s for more)
SHAVUOT 2014/5774
WHAT IS SHAVUOT AND WHY DO SOME PEOPLE SAY SHAVUOS?
- Resources for Kids & Families (from PJ Library)
- BJE in Sydney Australia says
- Chabad says
- Judaism.com says
Passover 2014/5774
- begins in the evening Monday, April 14
- ends in the evening Tuesday, April 22
don’t PASSOVER these resources
CHABAD explains the ins & outs of Passover
- #NeedToKnow from #MyJewishLearning
- One Stop Learning: laws, customs, songs… (Aish.com)
- Passover Pinterest Crafts
- Jamie Geller sets a pretty table!
- Delightful Decorations & Tasty Treats
Jewish Section in the App Store:
- The Aish ios App OR The Aish Android App
- Passover Assitant(ios) OR Android
- Jewish Photo Scavenger Hunt (ios)
- iMahNishtanah (ios)
- Passover Karaoke (Android)
- OU Kosher (ios) OR Android
- Ten Plagues – the game (ios)
- Passover (&year round) Recipes + Info
- Always a good time to brush up onyour Hebrew!
It’s Adar… Be happy! Happy Purim 5774
(ios) App-y Purim of all kinds:
- Megillat Esther w Grogger sounds
- Purim Memory Match
- Whack-a-Haman
- Purim Guide – all things Purim
- Manischewitz Recipe & Holiday Guide
PURIM COSTUME Ideas 
ECO-FRIENDLY Purim Ideas
PURIM THEMES from VirtualJerusalem
- Jewish Unity
- God’s “Hiddeness” in the World and Divine Providence
- Women’s Roles in the Ancient World
- Many more themes, check it out!
- LOTS of Purim esources for Educators (JECC Cleveland)
- Purim 101: History, FAQs and Tradition (URJ)
- Everything Purim from Aish.com
- PURIM MUSIC
- An upside down Purim (My Jewish Learning)
- Purim in Israel
- Make Your own Purim Costume (blog post)
- Adult Costume (funny) ideas
- Illuminated Megilat Esther
- Purim, Story of Intermarriage Gone Right!
Hamantaschen Recipe (Kids, ask an adult to help you!)
(From Behrman House Resource Library)
Preparation Time: 30 minutes/Baking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- Fillings:*
- preserves or jams
- poppy seed filling (store bought)
- prune filling (store bought)
Directions
- Mix flour, baking powder and salt in bowl.
- Mix eggs, vanilla and oil in another bowl.
- Combine both and mix well. The dough should be stiff. Add a little more flour if dough is very soft.
- Divide the dough in half and roll out one half until about 1/3 inch thick.
- Cut into circle about 4 inches in diameter.
- Place some filling in the center of the circle and pinch the sides up in three places to form a triangle.
- Make sure you make the pinches very near the top of the triangle or the cookie dough will spread open.
- Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 24.
Taken from From Soup to Nosh by the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston.
*Chocolate spread also works well.
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TEVET : The 10th month
- Capricorn, Kaballah & the month of Tevet
- A day for remembering the past and reflecting on the future
- Asarah b’Tevet lesson plans and bulletin board ideas (Chinuch.org)
- Connecting the dots… from 10 Tevet to 9 Av
- Septuagint = 70 faces of Torah, 69 lost in translation
- King Ptolemy and the Septuagint Project
- Another perspective
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WIKIPEDIA EXPLAINS THE JEWISH CALENDAR
Chanukah welcomes Thankgivukah
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- When is Chanukah?
- What is Chanukah (and here)?
- And what is Thanksgivukah, and why the big deal this year?
- Downloadable and printable Chanukah resources (JECC – Cleveland)
- Even more downloadable and printable resources (ChallahCrumbs.com)
- THANKSGIVUKAH STUFF – eCards, Recipes and lots more goodies
- LOTS of Chanukah Resources & Lesson Ideas (Lookstein)
- Chanukah games & fun for kids (Torah Tots)
- 33 different chanukiyot chosen by Maurice Sendak
- Chanukah resources and games in HEBREW (Galim)
- Thanksgivukah recipes
- 8 “BEST” latke recipes
- History Timeline (seems appropriate for Chanukah)
- Jewish texts, Chanukah & Social Justice
- How to light the hanukiyah PLUS suggested reading
- Thanksgivukah & Pinterest: Plenty ideas
- Got Gelt? A 45 minute lesson plan on Chanukah and Tzedakah
- Jacob Richman’s Chanukah quiz, games & more
chAPPy Chanukah
- Chanukah songs
- Chanukah videos for kids
- Dreidel, dreidel
- Light your menorah
- Even more iOS apps for lighting, spinning & playing
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Tu B’shvat
(15th day of Shvat)
Tu BiSh’vat or the “New Year of the Trees” is Jewish Arbor Day. The holiday is observed on the fifteenth (tu) of Sh’vat. Scholars believe that Tu BiSh’vat was originally an agricultural festival, marking the emergence of spring. Read more
What is a TuBishvat Seder?
During the diaspora, Tu Bishvat was being forgotten. In the 16th century, Kabbalists [mystics] in tzfat gave the holiday new relavence by popularizing the Seder Tu Bishvat . The Tu Bishvat seder is loosely based on the Pesach seder. READ MORE
Tu Bishvat Resource Links, Lesson plans and project ideas:
But how do you spell it? Top ten choices…
For those who are interested, here are the Google rankings. Note that Google treats apostrophes, spaces, and hyphens as identical. These rankings are incomplete; feel free to contribute more possible spellings. All searches below are in quotes.
- tu b’shevat 318,000
- tu b’shvat 196,000
- tu beshvat 87,000
- tu bishvat 83,300
- tubshvat 54,100 [this one, and #8, showed up mostly in URLs]
- tu bisvat 21,100
- tou bichvat 18,600
- tubishvat 11,500
- tu bish’vat 2500
- tu bshvat 1110
And for those who *really* want to know and understand why #4 is the only correct choice READ ON…
When you come to the land and you plant any tree,
you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the L-RD. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit. -Leviticus 19:23-25
There are four new years… the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month. –Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 Read more
Almond Cookies
- 1 egg
- ½ pound shortening
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- Blanched whole almonds
- 1 egg yolk, beaten
- READ MORE
A green message for TuBishvat Israeli classic song for TuBishvat
TuBishvat on the streets of Jerusalem Israeli classic song for TuBishvat
Tu Bishvat Lesson Plans
Tu Bishvat Suggested Seder
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Sukkot
- Sukkot-to-go: Texts, Articles and Divrei Torah from YU
- Sukkot Classroom Lesson Resources
- Sustainable Sukkot Resources (Hazon)
- Resources for Family Educators (Behrman House)
- How To Build a Sukkah
- Sukkot: Back to the Basics
- Traditions of Sukkot
- Shakin the Lulav
- Learning Hebrew with Sukkot
- Sukkot in a cotton field?!
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Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, Jewish Identity and Baseball |
Day of Atonement: Repairing our Mistakes, Engaging in teshuvah |
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Suggested Readings: |
Yom Kippur 101Interfaith Family: Encouraging Jewish Choices
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Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah:New Year?
Rosh Hashanah:Learn Hebrew
Dip Your Apple
Rosh Hashana Playlist (Jacob Richman jrichman@JR.CO.IL)
For the complete list
- Scroll down on the web page to hear 15 songs
- Classic Israeli Children’s Books in Hebrew as iPhone and iPad Apps – Hebrew narration with original Music by David Broza (Options include reading with or without narration, voice recording and interactive games)
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