8 Great Jewish Apps for 8 Nights of Hanukkah

Let’s make Hanukkah a chai-tech holiday and list 8 great mobile apps for the Members of the Tribe. From the silly to the practical, here are 8 apps you’ll want if you’re a Jew in the Digital Age:

Best Jewish Apps1) BETA MIDRASH (Download from Google Play for Android)

BetaMidrash is revolutionizing the mobile Torah learning experience with one of largest libraries of Torah and Jewish texts on a mobile device. It has tens of thousands of English translations, and half a million connections between the texts. It boasts a user friendly design, easy jumping between connected sources, and advanced searching to help you find what you’re looking for quickly, it is the best places to study Torah on the go. (The text library is from Sefaria.org).

 

2) SYNAGOGUES FINDER (Download from Apple Store for iOS) (Download from Google Play for Android)

Are you a wandering Jew? Are you searching a community? Are you looking for a synagogue Hebrew School to send junior? Whether you’re traveling or new in town, Synagogues Finder shows you the closest shuls in the area.

 

3) YIDDISH SLANG  (Download from Apple Store for iOS) (Download from Google Play for Android)

Don’t be a schmuck and just download this Yiddish app! Yiddish is a mashup of Hebrew and German and is a pretty colorful way to put things. It has definitions and quizzes to make sense of the mishigas that is Yiddish. Be warned that there’s no pronunciation guide so you might end up sounding like a shlameel.

 

4) IS IT KOSHER? (Download from Apple Store for iOS) (Download from Google Play for Android)

There are over half a million kosher certified products on the market and dozens of trustworthy rabbis have their own kosher certification agency with different kosher standards. The Is It Kosher? app is available on both Android and iPhone/iPad and is a must-have app for the kosher consumer. The user either enters the name of the product or scans the product’s UPC code (bar code) to determine if the product is kosher or treif.

 

5) EMOJEW  (Download from Apple Store for iOS) (Download from Google Play for Android)

Like them or hate them, emojis are here to stay. The younger generation loves emojis and they use them all the time in text messages and Facebook posts. However, aside from the Israeli flag, there really are no Jewish emojis. Now you can have all the Jewish emojis you want from holiday symbols to kosher food items to religious icons. With Emojew, you’ll never feel farklempt sending a text to your rabbi again!

 

6) JDATE APP  (Download from Apple Store for iOS) (Download from Google Play for Android)

Spark Networks’ JDate is the Jewish dating website responsible for more Jewish marriages than all other dating sites combined — now makes it even easier for Jewish singles to meet, chat, message, connect and date! As the preferred Jewish dating app, JDate is the go-to place for Jewish men and women looking for a fun romance, a serious relationship, or even love and marriage.

 

7) RUSTY BRICK’S SIDDUR AND LUACH APP (Download from Apple Store for iOS including Apple Watch) (Download from Google Play for Android)

Are you a Jew on the go? Well, now you can take your weekday siddur with you with this feature-packed Jewish prayer book. Includes weekday Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, standard Brachot and more. Real time Z’manim will give you the prayer times for each day based on your location determined with the device’s GPS. A Minyanim database will help you find nearest shul. A Luach or Jewish Calendar will aid you in your prayer services. Like all Rusty Brick apps, their Siddur mobile app is easy and has quick navigation features.

 

8) JEWISH DAYS (Download from Apple Store for iOS)

Since the Jewish holidays change days drastically from year to year, so only God knows when the Jewish holidays are. And he’s old, so even he needs reminding. That’s why you both need Jewish Days (iOS). It gives you a complete list of the dates of Jewish and Israeli holidays and the meaning of each, as well as Shabbat candle-lighting times depending on your location.