Author: JCJ Jewish Community of Japan (JCJ Admin Jewish Community of Japan)

Shabbat Parshat YitroCandle Lighting: 5:03pmHavdala: 6:01pm

Shabbat Parshat BeshalachCandle Lighting: 4:56pmHavdala: 5:55pm

Shabbat Parshat BoCandle Lighting: 4:49pmHavdala: 5:48pm

Shabbat Parshat VaeraCandle Lighting: 4:34pmHavdala: 5:35pm

Shabbat Parshat ShemotCandle Lighting: 4:34pmHavdala: 5:35pm

During the past 30 years, Israel and Egypt have waged war. But for the past 16 months, these same two great nations have waged peace. Today we celebrate a victory, not of a bloody military campaign, but of an inspiring peace campaign.-President Jimmy Carter at the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty Signing Ceremony There may be no...

Abba, why don’t we celebrate Christmas? Is it because we’re not Japanese?-Asher on the way home from hoikuen The first night of Hanukkah falling out on December 25 will undoubtedly lead to social media posts about how many Christmas songs were written by Jews in early 20th century America. The story is well-trod, well-known and...

If you thought the Hanukkah story represented an epic battle pitting gyro-eating Greek soldiers against their falafel-devouring Israeli nemeses, you’d be wrong. King Antiochus IV was less Aegean than Seleucid which is a fancy way of saying Syrian-Greek. The Seleucid Empire’s capital was not Athens or Thebes but Antioch, located in northwestern Syria. The misconception...

In an imagined conversation with his great-great grandfather, Rabbi David Wolpe shares “We’re having a tough time at Harvard.” His ancestor, flabbergasted, interrupts him to blurt out, “There are Jews at Harvard?” Rabbi Wolpe continues, “Yeah, but there’s a lot of hatred of Israel.” Rabbi Wolpe’s great-great grandfather again interjects to exclaim, “There’s an Israel?!”...

The cultural spheres of sport and religion mixed recently when Jake Retzlaff, a proud Jew, became the starting quarterback for the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars. The fiercely Zionistic, unquestionably Mormon institution of higher (4,500 feet above sea level) learning might just be the safest school to be Jewish anywhere in the United States of...