What food eaten during Pesach causes the most debates? If you guessed matzah balls, you’re right. Should they be hard or light? Big or small? What secret ingredient should be added to them? From where did matzah balls, or kneidlach,…
God Almighty Herself induces Egypt to give birth. We simply need to listen for the birth mother’s screams in the delivery room. We hear the screams throughout the plagues, as they become increasingly intensive, starting with the first plague, blood.…
“Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh,” from Gustave Doré’s English Bible, 1866. (image from Wikimedia Commons) Stubbornness is a complex and harsh characteristic. It is no surprise, then, that Pharaoh, who is considered to be one of the most wicked…
Purim in Tel Aviv last year. (photo by Igor Zed) What is the origin of wearing costumes on Purim? One theory relates to the fact that the Jews in the Purim story live in the galut (“exile,” outside of Israel).…
According to talmudic sages, “It is forbidden to live in a town which has no garden or greenery.” (Kiddushin 4:12; 66d) (photo by A. Christen) Many contemporary Jews look upon Tu b’Shevat as a Jewish Earth Day, a day for…
In Israel, Tu b’Shevat is a day for planting saplings. (photo from JNF via israel21c.org) “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.” This lovely quotation is not from our sages, but is an…
Left to right: Archbishop JohnMichael Miller, Dr. Gregg Gardner, Fr. Nick Meisl, Dr. Jay Eidelman and RabbiJonathan Infeld. (photo by Rabbi Adam Stein) “This is a unique opportunity to learn and growtogether. What better way to open ourselves to that…
(photo from Joy) An old folk proverb says, “Chanukah latkes teach us that one cannot live by miracles alone.” Jewish food writer and cookbook author Joan Nathan contends that the word latke is not Yiddish, as everyone presumes, but stems…
(photo by Brandon Martin-Anderson) According to my research, some type of pancakes was made by ancient Greeks and Romans, or even earlier; Christians made them before Lent to use up foods they could not otherwise consume. The earliest pancakes were…
