| . Religion
& Spirit
Links to Religion & Spirit
On-Line
.. Holiday
Sites Worth Visiting
'Holiday', as you probably know, means
'Holy Day'. And 'holy' means 'whole'. In that spirit, DownStreet
is pleased to be able to point you toward some holy-day sites worth
visiting. ...
for
Chanukah
for
Christmas
for Chanukah ..
Chanukah
at OU.ORG [Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America]
Like the All about Christmas site, this one, which
calls itself "The CyberHome of Torah," is also not so
much limited to stories or poems about Chanukah, but includes a
rich and wide variety of resources connected with the
holiday. ...
.
Selections
range from "Basics" like The Month of Kislev, What is
Chanukah, a Bayit Sheini Timeline, info on The Lights of Chanukah,
and the Maoz Tzur and Mizmor Shir Chanukat in Translation, to
"Special Prayers" like Special Prayers Hallel and
Al HaNisim, as well as Torah Readings, Candle Lighting {in Real
Audio, in Int'l Sign Language, and in Russian}, Chanukah in the
Torah, a section on the History and Thought surrounding the
holiday, The Secret of the Dreidel, and Laws of Chanukah (Ohr
Sameach). There are also links to "advanced" info,
mostly commentary on various aspects of the holiday by a number of
rabbis.
.
We've been to OU.org
before and, as usual, it provides a wealth of info in an easy to
find format. In addition, there are always a variety of
levels of info offered -- from the most basic to the more
advanced.
Rating: ****1/2 [4-1/2 stars]
. Chanukah
- Torah.org
Torah.org
is the other mainstay for info on Judaism and the Torah.
This link takes you directly to the material on Chanukah.
...
.
From the opening page,
click on the Chanukah Classes/Dreidel image, which takes you to a
page to help you "Learn About Chanukah." Here,
you'll find A Little Background Information; Why Eight Days?;
Candle Lighting Blessings; Basic Concepts and Laws; and lessons
from previous years, as well. Similarly, if you click on the
image of the Torah scroll {"Chanukah@Torah.org"}, you'll
find a page of some 18 additional lessons going back about 7 years
or so, including Chanukah Vs. Purim [Hamaayan, 5760], A Little
Light Chases Away a Lot of Darkness [Dvar Torah, 5760], and more.
.
For
those looking for basic info and insight, as well, Torah.org is
always a blessing. ...
Rating: ****1/2 [4-1/2
stars]
. Jewish
Community Online: Chanukah
The Jewish Community Online
is an extensive if somewhat more secular-seeming site. This
section, devoted to Chanukah, has the following to offer:
.
The
story of Chanukah ... The rules to playing dreidel ...
Candlelighting blessings ... Chanukah, Hanukkah, or Khanookah? ...
How to make paper dreidels ... How to light a menorah ... "A
Hanukkah State of Mind" ... How to make beeswax candles ...
How to clean a menorah ... Ask A Rabbi: Chanukah ... Chanukah
cookie tray ideas ... The Jewish Community Online Chanukah
Calendar ... "Rita Milos Brownstein" (The Jewish Martha
Stewart) ... Chanukah Web links ... The Mitzvah of Teshuvah ...
Gil Mann column: The Jewish Christmas Tree{???} ... Chanukah
Recipes ... Chanukah songs ... and Why latkes.
.
Rating:
****1/2 [4-1/2 stars]
.
for Christmas ...
- Gregorian
Chant Home Page
The Gregorian Chant Home Page,
part of the Princeton U. web, is an invaluable resource for those
interested in the form.
.
There
are links to Chant Research Sites, Medieval Music Theory Sites,
Resources for Chant Performance, Other Chant Web Sites, and Web
Sites Helpful for Chant Researchers, including Ecclesiastical
Sciences, Historical and Humanistic Sciences, and Information
Sciences.
.
You won't find the
music directly on this site. But you will find the links to
it, as well as to other useful sites for chant..
Rating:
**** [4 stars]
. - CATHOLIC
ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christmas
The Catholic
Encyclopedia was published back in 1906, which is the text from
which this site draws its material. This link takes you
directly to the entry for Christmas. ...
.
The
main sections of the article cover the Origin of the Word, Early
Celebration, the Origin of the Date, and Liturgy &
Custom. And there are cross-reference links to other
material in the Encyclopedia throughout.
.
The
Catholic Encyclopedia is certainly not a post-Vatican II
document. But if you would like to learn more about
Christmas and the history of the Church from the beginnings up to
the turn of the last century -- with solid coverage of many
Catholic rites -- this is the place to go.
Rating:
****1/2 [4-1/2 stars]
. - Christmas
Around The World
This site at theholidayspot.com is
very pop. But it does have at least one thing that makes it
worth the visit -- this link to Christmas Around the World.
.
In
many traditions that are widespread across the globe the way
Christmas is, there is often a tendency to think that
"Christmas means ..." and then we go about fillinf in
the blanks, usually with memories from our own childhoods.
That is certainly and understandably what Christmas means to many
of us. But there are more and different traditions
surrounding Christmas {or any other world-religious holy day} than
one might imagine. At this site, you don't have to
imagine. You can catch glimpses of how Xmas happens in three
dozen different countries, including a few that may seem unlikely
entries.
.
Included are:
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bethlehem, Brazil, China, Cuba,
Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, Iraq, Iran, Mexico, Netherlands,
Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States,
Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Rating: **** [4 stars]
. About
Links to Religion & Spirit On-Line
The amount of info on the
web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a search can attest
to. To put it all in context, best estimates say that only a
fraction -- maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there -- is actually making its
way to the search engines. Well, here at DownStreet,
we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we post a few links in
Religion & Spirit to sites that might interest you. Sometimes
the links will be related to one another ... sometimes we'll
just offer up a somewhat random sampling. Sometimes they're about
Vermont sites, sometimes not. Of course, while we
can't vouch for the fact that every link we provide will be of interest to
everyone, we do our best to filter out the noise and the bustle and focus
on quality sites. ... In that light, we hope you enjoy these
sites as much as we have. . .*******
******* If you know of
any links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to
...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to
include them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* . |
