As usual, I spent as much time researching what I might create for the Independent’s holiday cover as I did creating it. Lots of themes went through my head, as did lots of possible styles. When I shared with my…
As Yom Kippur approaches, teshuvah, forgiveness, looms large on Jewish minds. It’s a time to think about wounds we may have inflicted on others and fractured relationships. What’s our responsibility to apologize? Where should we be mending bridges? These fractures…
Every Jewish New Year, just before we stand to hear the sound of the shofar, I get nervous for the blower. What if they can’t produce the sound? I remember a Rosh Hashanah when this occurred, and the red, exasperated…
A Moroccan proverb states: “The one who wants honey must endure the sting of bees.” The meaning is that nothing worthwhile comes without effort. For most of us, the extent of our effort at eating honey on Rosh Hashanah is…
In searching for holiday recipes, I came across the website of award-winning chef and restaurateur Andrew Zimmern. A media personality, Zimmern advocates for sustainable food systems and promotes cultural understanding, among several other causes. He is involved with many organizations…
Yellowknife held its first community-wide Passover seder, with support from the Jewish Federation of British Columbia, at the Sundog Trading Post on April 1. (photo from Jewish Federation Facebook page) Yellowknife held its first community-wide Passover seder, with support from…
Chabad Richmond hosted a barbecue on Lag b’Omer, May 5. (photo from Chabad Richmond) Families in Richmond gathered on May 5 for a Lag b’Omer barbecue organized by Chabad Richmond. Fun for the kids included a bouncy castle, archery, crafts…
The Kotel – the last remaining part of Herod the Great’s vast Second Temple complex – got a spruce up ahead of Passover. As is tradition, volunteers took to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City to remove hundreds of…
Liberation. Freedom. Renewal. Recalling our history, our stories. Passover’s themes are many, and the challenge every year is for us to interpret them in a meaningful way for our time. In making this special issue’s cover, I started with the…
