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Jewish Communities of Vermont Blog

Our blog shares posts reflecting on Jewish life in Vermont and linking to resources related to Jewish culture, food, family, and leading a Jewish life.

We also highlight Jewish organizations and events in Vermont and beyond!

Chandar Hall 7/27/23 Chandar Hall 7/27/23

torah comentary on Shabbat Nachamu/the Shabbat of Comfort

Chandar Hall 7/13/23 Chandar Hall 7/13/23

Matot-masey

Torah commentary by local rabbi’s

Chandar Hall 6/28/23 Chandar Hall 6/28/23

local Torah Gems-Parshat Chukat-Balak

Chandar Hall 6/15/23 Chandar Hall 6/15/23

Korah: His children did not die

Chandar Hall 6/15/23 Chandar Hall 6/15/23

Faith is spelled a-c-t-i-o-n

Chandar Hall 6/8/23 Chandar Hall 6/8/23

Eat and be satisfied- explorations on this weeks torah portion By Rabbi Jan Saltman

'second paragraph of the Shma', set there by our ancestors to convey how critical it is that we walk our talk. One of the verses addresses satiety:

וְנָתַתִּ֛י עֵ֥שֶׂב בְּשָׂדְךָ֖ לִבְהֶמְתֶּ֑ךָ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָֽעְתָּ׃

I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill.

Chandar Hall 6/7/23 Chandar Hall 6/7/23

The Many Braids of challah

Chandar Hall 6/1/23 Chandar Hall 6/1/23

‘Yedid Nefesh’: Unpackaging one verse

Chandar Hall 4/27/23 Chandar Hall 4/27/23

Senate devotional

As human beings, we’re always counting, putting a number on the day, our age, another person’s age, the amount of money we have, another person has, how many friends we have, how many Facebook friends, how many degrees we have, how much we have accomplished, etc.

In the Jewish tradition, we are always counting too. Yet, we are taught to count in a very different way than we often count in the secular world.

A few weeks ago, Jews celebrated Passover. But contrary to popular belief, Passover is not yet over! Passover is intrinsically connected to Shavuot, the Jewish holiday of receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, which is celebrated 7 weeks after Passover. For 49 days, Jews count each day leading up to Shavuot. Today is the 21st day between Passover and Shavuot.

Why are we counting these days and what is the significance of this counting?

Chandar Hall 4/4/23 Chandar Hall 4/4/23

PASSOVER The freedom of many names

Within the special Shabbat morning Torah reading for Passover we read, “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Pessah remain until the morning” (Exodus 34:25). In this verse, the holiday is referred to as Pessah, based on the sentence, “I will pass (ufasachti) over you” (Exodus 12:13). In addition, “pessah” is the name of the lamb sacrificed on the holiday (Numbers 9:2). As with most Jewish holidays, it has more than one name. In this case three more:

Chandar Hall 3/22/23 Chandar Hall 3/22/23