AllJewishLinks.com Newsletter Issue # 47 – September 12, 2012

Chabad of Jupiter in Florida created a Shofar Factory for kids and families to make ram’s horns shofars to take home for the upcoming Jewish New Year holidays, which begins at sundown on Sept. 16.  At the event, students made, drilled, carved and sanded and tested their horns.

The Habayit Hayehudi ended up with more than 30,000 members after its registration drive ended on Sunday, Rabbi Daniel Tropper the party’s election committee chairman, said in an interview that he has been legally barred from revealing how many people have already submitted paper forms to join the party,

Amid local controversy a small body of water in rural New Hampshire, previously dubbed Jew Pond, has been officially renamed Carleton Pond. The scenic fishing spot was given its name in the 1920s after two Jewish businessmen from Boston bought a hotel there in the area.

Think of designer accessories and it’s likely to be shoes, scarves and handbags that come to mind. Amanda Kramer an Israeli designer believes that Jewish religious accessories also deserve to be crafted with flair, fine fabrics and personal style. A traditional Jewish mother of six with untraditional ideas in design, has produced tallits or prayer shawls from Louis Vuitton jeans, fringes from Fendi and siddurs or prayer books covered in Gucci fabric.

A spot in the morning Shacharis service reminds us that honey can’t be added to any offering. In ticking off the ingredients for ceremonial incense to be used in the Mishkan, the prayer book states emphatically that if one added honey to the mixture, he rendered it unfit for sacred use. But why? Had even a miniscule amount of honey been added, nobody would have been able to resist its sweet smell.

Theology is mostly opinion. This means your theology is your opinion. Who am I to argue with your view of a matter? However sometimes theology opinions are misleading. When a theologian interprets a prayer text in a manner that is too personal for instance, that needs to be examined closely.

Tuesdays With Morrie Author Reminds Us To Live Life and Worry Less About Keeping Time. Mitch Albom timed the release of his new book, The Timekeeper, to coincide with the Jewish High Holy Days. This work of fiction forces us to consider the meaning of time and why it is not good for humans to try to control it.