Free Republic

You won't find cola, cigarettes or packs of gum in the lonely vending machine on the third floor of the capital's central bus station. Instead, you'll find siddurim, machzorim and other religious books on sale for just NIS 10-15. A vending machine at the Central Bus Station offers travelers Judaic books for sale. Photo: Nadia Beidas The vending machine is there because of Meoros HaDaf HaYomi, an organization dedicated to spreading the study of Judaism in general and Gemara in particular. HaDaf HaYomi has more than 500 classes around the country and publishes books, videos and audio clips on the...

Polish group developing 'Hasidic Judaism Trail' for tourists By DPA Visitors to Poland will soon have the opportunity of discovering the orthodox Jewish tradition by going on the Hasidic Judaism Trail. The Institute for the Preservation of Jewish Culture and the Carpathia Institute are currently developing the project, the online edition of the daily Gazeta Wyborza reported. "We believe the trail will encourage development of the region's tourist infrastructure," says Malgorzata Bakalarz, the project's coordinator. The trail will pass through the regions of Lublin and Subcarpathia and cities such as Zamosc, Lesko, Lezajsk and Tarnobrzeg whose pre-war population was mostly...

Three Girls, Three Graves, One Torah By: Daniel Gordis Last Sunday night, which now seems like a hundred years ago, was about as good as it gets here. Along with the other twelfth grade parents at Tali's school, we'd been invited to a "Hachnasat Sefer Torah," the "bringing of a Torah Scroll to a synagogue." There's nothing particularly unusual about a "Hachnasat Sefer Torah" in Jerusalem, or in Israel, for that matter. They happen pretty frequently. But this one was unique. Fourteen years ago, in about 1990, a group of pre-twelfth grade girls from Pelech, Tali's high school, went on...