Thousands Gather in Jerusalem for Birkat Kohanim (The Priestly Blessing) on Sukkot

In Israel, the priestly blessing takes place daily in every synagogue across the country. But twice a year, once during Passover and once during Sukkot, a mass priestly blessing is held at the Western Wall.

This gathering of tens of thousands became tradition following its initiation by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gafner during the War of Attrition. He thought of the impact and power the priestly blessing holds, even following the destruction of the temples, and decided to offer both kohanim and others to partake in this meaningful experience en masse during a period that was very difficult in the State of Israel.

Birkat Kohanim at the Kotel is something very worth attending at least once. Provided you aren’t bothered by very large crowds, join the tens of thousands of people who attend this event annually and receive the historic blessing from hundreds of Jews of priestly lineage as they face the congregation, hands stretched forward, chanting in one voice.

This was the scene yesterday morning at the Kotel as Jerusalem residents and visitors came together to receive the blessing of the Kohanim on the third day of Sukkot, the first day of Chol Hamoed.

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Adon Olam Around the World - A New Version from Mechon Hadar

Mechon Hadar is an educational institution in New York that empowers Jews to create and sustain vibrant, practicing, egalitarian communities of Torah learning, prayer, and service.

On one night in January, a twenty-five person spontaneous Jewish choir came to the choir loft at the Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn to sing a new version of Adon Olam by Joey Weisenberg, Mechon Hadar's Creative Director of the Center for Jewish Communal Music.

It's a version of Adon Olam that we haven't heard before, and we suspect it's new to you too. But like many synagogue mainstays, Adon Olam comes in many different flavors. We hope you'll like this one as we welcome another Shabbat.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Pidyon Petter Chamor - "Jewish Donkey" Redeemed in Melbourne, Australia

In May, 2009, two members of the Adass Yisroel congregation in Melbourne, Australia, were studying Talmud, and came across the obscure mitzva of Pidyon Petter Chamor -- redeeming of a firstborn male donkey. 

Determined to perform this unique and rare mitzva, they located a female donkey that had not yet produced any offspring. Working with a breeder, they waited the 12 months of pregnancy, and finally the firstborn male donkey emerged.

Most of Melbourne's rabbinate attended the ceremony as did young and old from many of Melbourne's shuls and shteebels.

The five minute long video is fascinating to watch. The funniest part is when the rabbi says "It's unusual and difficult to find a Jewish donkey."

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Rare Jewish Donkey Redemption Ceremony Carried out in Pennsylvania

Last June, the congregants of Ohev Shalom, the National Synagogue in Washington, DC became the latest to witness a rare Pidyon Petter Chamor donkey redemption ceremony (one of the 613 mitzvot in the Torah -- number 277 in the list compiled by Chabad and codified in Exodus 13:13.)

In the ceremony, led by the congregation's Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, the first male offspring of a donkey pregnant for the first time was traded for a sheep as the rabbi and members of the congregation recited prayers and sang and danced their way around the Capital Retreat Center in Pennsylvania.

While the ceremony is rare, it's been performed before, in Melbourne, Australia, in New York's Catskill mountains, and in other locations around the world.

The rationale for the ceremony and a description of the logistics involved in carrying it out were published in the synagogue's bulletin:

What is a Petter Chamor ceremony?
The Torah commands us that if we own a donkey and the first issue of the donkey's womb is a male, then we are required to redeem the donkey by giving a sheep or a goat to a Kohen as a gift (Exodus 13:13; Numbers 18:15).

The Talmud explains that the reason for this mitzvah is because each person who left Egypt had 90 Libyan donkeys to carry their possessions. When we redeem a newborn donkey we are symbolically expressing our gratitude to the donkeys who helped us carry our possessions out of Egypt (Bechorot, 5b).

How did we come to acquire a donkey?
In February 2015, one of our members, Rochel Roth, confirmed that a donkey named Margarita, who lived outside of Baltimore, was pregnant for the very first time. We conducted an ultra-sound test and determined that the fetus was a male.?�?�

Rabbi Herzfeld then traveled with Maharat Ruth Friedman and purchased the donkey. Some members of the congregation responded to our publicity of this project and also participated in the purchase of this donkey. They are considered co-owners of the donkey and the mitzvah is partially theirs as well.

Rabbi Herzfeld and Maharat Friedman were given full funding for the project by Aaron and Ahuva Orlofsky and Ron Kleinfeldt and Barbara Zakheim. Ron has requested that the donkey be named for his father, MC Kleinfeldt, so we are calling the donkey "MC" (short for Moshe Chamor).

The ceremony itself will look a little bit like a pidyon haben ceremony, but with a donkey and a lamb. We are super excited for this project. It is very rare mitzvah to fulfill and we believe that we are the first synagogue in DC history to ever publicly partake in this mitzvah.

It is our hope that this mitzvah will teach us about the importance of expressing gratitude to others and also of the great lengths we must extend ourselves in order to fulfill a mitzvah of Hashem. It is our hope that this mitzvah will inspire us all to come closer to Hashem.

No animals were harmed in this ceremony and after the ceremony the donkey was sent to live on a farm in Baltimore.

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Joe Lieberman on How He Strayed From Shabbat Observance and How He Returned

Former Senator Joe Lieberman has been a role model for many observant Jews in combining their observance with full participation in the greater society.

Before leaving office he sat down for an interview with Allison Josephs, founder and director of Jew in the City, a blog dedicated to to breaking down stereotypes about religious Jews and offering a humorous, meaningful outlook into Orthodox Judaism.

Jew in the City is reshaping the way society views Orthodox Jews and Judaism by publicizing the message that Orthodox Jews can be funny, approachable, educated, pro-women and open-minded—and that Orthodox Judaism links the Jewish people to a deep and beautiful heritage that is just as relevant today as it ever was.

We thought that you'd like to see Senator Lieberman talk openly about a religious crisis that he faced while a student at Yale University. In the interview he tells Josephs how he stopped observing Shabbat and the role of his grandmother in guiding him back to Shabbat observance.

The senator also discusses, with an engaging sense of humor, the changing roles of Jewish women and overcoming misconceptions about gender roles in Judaism.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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