The lights of chanukiyot could be seen in the neighbourhood windows. (photo by Neil Harris) There once was a dreidel named Dreidelhead. Dreidelhead had three brothers and lived with his parents in Flushing, N.Y. His first name was Noon but…
What does the word Maccabee mean? Who were the five sons of Mattathias? What is a Chanukah lamp called? What are the letters on a dreidel outside of Israel? Inside Israel? In which book of the Bible do we read…
(photo by Josh Evnin) In traditional Jewish cooking, brisket is most often braised as a pot roast, especially as a holiday main course, usually served at Rosh Hashanah, Passover and on the Sabbath. For reasons of economics and kashrut, it…
(photo from Umbe Ber/Pixabay) Every time I do a food column, I look up its history, and I am continually fascinated by what I learn. We all know what is pasta – unleavened semolina mixed with water or eggs and…
(photo by Kimberly Vardeman) Chocolate chips were created when chocolate chip cookies were invented in 1937 – Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass., added cut-up chunks of a semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate bar to a cookie…
Vancouver Peace Poppies co-founder Teresa Gagné at the White Poppy Memorial in 2018. (photo by Diane Donaldson) A local group is hoping to broaden the scope of Remembrance Day as more than an occasion to honour the brave men and women…
There’s no denying that food is an insanely large part of Jewish life. Whether we’re cooking it, eating it or writing about it, our lives inexorably orbit around it. It’s true that most religions celebrate their holidays, at least partially,…
A Klein family portrait. (photo from Libby Simon) As I get older, I look forward to my childhood memories of the High Holidays with my original family. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins before sundown on Sept. 29 and ends on…
At a Sephardi Rosh Hashanah seder, one of blessings, over leeks (or cabbage) is the request, may “our enemies be destroyed.” (photo from Wikimedia) Food customs differ among Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. For example, whereas Ashkenazim dip apple in honey…
Ought is one of the 3,000 most frequently used words in English. We say one ought to do something as an indication that some action is good, proper, expected or owed. The word should carries many of the same implications.…
