MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

Share.. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star in the brand new romantic comedy “No Strings Attached“, directed by Ivan Reitman. Recently, they sat down with USA Today to chat about the new flick. Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, said she learned a lot from co-star, Ashton, about her own religion. “Ashton has taught me [...]

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Share..Google and Yad Vashem recently announced a collaboration to create a public online archive of Holocaust documents from around the world. It’s not just the Holocaust though, Google, for some time has been working to bring much of the world’s cultural and historical heritage online. The initial stage of the project has now been completed; [...]

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Share..Friday, the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia is opening its new building for a weekend of celebrations. The balcony of the $150 million museum overlooks the Liberty Bell and Independence National Historical Park – the place where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. The setting is very appropriate as [...]

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Share..Philip Roth first became known in the late 1950s and 60s for writing a new kind of story about Jewish identity. His novels and stories tend to tell the story of young Jewish American men, estranged from their cultural Hebrew identity. Roth’s latest novel, Nemesis, is set in Newark, N.J. in 1944 – the town [...]

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Share..The central themes of Yom Kippur are atonement and repentance. Traditionally we observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer. So, for today, a word about Sin: A commonly misunderstood word in the Hebrew lexicon is chait – usually translated as “sin”. Now-a-day, sin is one of those words we [...]

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Share..For those just coming around, there are two basic types of Kabbalah: -Kabbalah iyunit, “contemplative Kabbalah,” which seeks to explain the nature of G-D and the nature of existence, through intellectual and meditative techniques. -Kabbalah ma’asit, “practical Kabbalah,” seeks to alter the nature of existence and change the course of events through ritualistic techniques. Sometimes [...]

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Share..In an earlier post, I assured my non-Jewish readers who may be attending a Passover Seder that among the staples of the tradition is a pre-feast ceremony, held at the table and guided by a special book called a Haggadah. Here’s a little more background on what the Haggadah is all about: Jewish sages composed [...]

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