Curiosities

Shemini Atseret marks the beginning of the rainy season in Israel. The prayer for rain – Tefilat Hageshem – is one of the main prayers of this Jewish festival. In Israel, Shemini Atseret and Simchat Torah are the same religious holiday. Outside of Israel, there are two distinct dates – two days of Yom Tov.

Rabbi Akiva, the greatest sage of the Talmud, only began studying Torah at the age of 40. He grew up as an ignorant and illiterate pastor. Rabbi Akiva began studying Torah so he could marry Rachel, daughter of Kalba Savua. Rabbi Akiva later became the greatest rabbi in Jewish history.

At a Jewish wedding, the bride's face is covered by a veil. This custom dates back to the period of the patriarchs. In Genesis it is said that when Rebekah first saw Isaac, she covered herself with a veil. From then on it became a tradition for the bride to cover her face with a veil before the wedding ceremony. This ritual is called badeken – covering. However, as Jacob was deceived and married Leah believing she was Rachel – as her face was covered by a heavy veil – it became a custom, to prevent mistakes of this kind, for the groom to veil the bride. This way he will be able to see the face of his future wife and make sure that she is the woman he really chose.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are mostly written in Hebrew, but some were written in Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of the Jews in the Land of Israel during the early first century of the Common Era. The discovery of the Manuscripts contributed to greater knowledge of both languages.

On the 6th of Tammuz, in the year 1976 BCE, the famous and miraculous rescue of Entebbe occurred. An Air France plane was hijacked by German and Arab terrorists. Jewish hostages were held by terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. On this day, they were rescued by an Israeli Commando unit. The only Israeli soldier to die in the operation was the commander himself, Yoni Netanyahu, older brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The 3rd of the Hebrew month of Tammuz is the death anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. On this day, tens of thousands of people visit his grave in New York to ask for blessings. Many who cannot travel to New York send letters, by fax or e-mail, with their requests to be placed at the Rebbe's tomb. This custom of asking for blessings from a Tzadik, especially on his death anniversary, is a Jewish mystical custom mentioned several times in the Talmud, the Zohar and other important works of Judaism.

Due to anti-Semitism prevalent in the best universities in the United States, Abram Sachar, in 1948, founded Brandeis University. Brandeis was founded with the purpose of being a secular college for Jewish students. The university was named in honor of Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to become a justice on the American Supreme Court.

In 1645, Portugal went to war against the Netherlands in a dispute over Brazilian lands. After nine years of conflict, the Portuguese prevailed. What was the consequence of this for the Jews? In 1654, all Jews were expelled from Brazil. New Christians were deported to Lisbon, tried and executed. 600 Jews returned to Holland and 23 went to New Amsterdam (New York).