Most medieval Jewish cemeteries in Spain are invisible after being suddenly abandoned with the expulsion of 1492. In Barcelona this happened earlier, after a wave of anti-Jewish attacks in 1391. But in 2008, local Jews secured government recognition, researched its boundaries and, in 2018, designed a special ceremony to reconnect with the site and to restore its place in the city’s memory. Thus, the tradition of Kavod HaMet (honoring the dead) is renewed, after being interrupted for centuries.

On the first night of Shavuot, after the festive meal, Jews remain awake learning Torah, often reading a syllabus (known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot) that contains excerpts of every book of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), Mishnah, Kabbalah, as well as the 613 mitzvot, allowing the reader to skim through the landscape of Jewish tradition in just a few hours.

A Shiduch (or shidduch) is the traditional matchmaking system used in Orthodox Jewish communities to help singles find a spouse. It focuses on meeting potential partners who share your core values, religious goals, and lifestyle, aiming for marriage rather than casual dating.

A rarely performed ritual that releases a man from the obligation of marrying his deceased brother's childless wife.

For centuries, Georgian Jews preserved unique Passover customs that combined religious tradition with theatrical performance and communal participation. One of the most distinctive of these rituals was the “Passover Traveller” ceremony, practiced in several regions of Georgia and passed down through generations as part of the community’s living intangible heritage.

During a ceremony, a young Jewish boy who has reached the age of three brings to the synagogue the mappah that his parents have made or have had made for him. The mappah (plural: mappot) is a long, decorative cloth used to wrap and secure the Torah scroll to protect it. It is made from the swaddling cloth on which the child sat during his circumcision. This tradition is still in use in Alsace, where artists (painters and/or embroiderers) create beautiful mappot on demand.

“Shiri bili tria poni” is a Jewish-Polish tongue-twister passed down in my family from my great-grandmother’s second husband, Tzvi. Recited during holidays like Passover and Rosh Hashanah, it became part of our ritual life. Though long thought to be nonsensical, it was later identified as a transformed version of a real Polish rhyme, shaped by migration across Poland, Israel, Argentina, and Spain.

This is an interactive, station-based Pesach activity for elementary school children, designed as a fun and educational journey through the 10 Plagues of Egypt. 🎯 Concept Children “travel” through Egypt by completing 10 different stations, each representing one of the Ten Plagues. At each station, they complete a small challenge, game, or task. Once completed, they receive a stamp/clue/token that allows them to move forward, symbolising the journey toward freedom.

The Mourner's Kaddish or the 'Orphan's Kaddish' or pronounced is recited by a mourner at the end of a prayer service and after a memorial prayer. The period that the mourner recites the Kaddish for parents is, theoretically, a full calendar year. The deceased is considered to be under Divine judgment for that period. Some communities, therefore, adhere to the custom that Kaddish be recited for 12 months but it is generally done for 11 months minus one day.

A Jewish wedding is the sacred reconstruction of a single soul, where the couple stands under the Chuppah to build an "eternal structure" (Binyan Adei Ad) rooted in the light of the Torah. It is a moment of a special significance that transcends the individual, serving as a foundational restoration for the future of the entire community.