An apple-honey cake
Add some apples to your honey cake this year. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan) In the spirit of trying new things and as the New Year approaches, here is a recipe from my kosher kitchen, a slightly different take on…
Celebrating the Holidays
Celebrate sweetness
The High Holidays are all about family and friends coming together and sharing a meal. Kosher Taste: Plan. Prepare. Plate (Feldheim, 2016) by Toronto-based Amy Stopnicki offers home cooks a new formula for kosher cooking, with more than 100 recipes…
This week’s cartoon … Sept. 23/16
How we pray to G-d
This year, Rosh Hashanah begins on the evening of Oct. 2. On the first day of the holiday, we read the Haftorah that tells us the story of Chana the prophetess, who prayed to G-d for a child. She prayed…
A Rosh Hashanah wakeup call
In just over a week, many of us will be in the synagogue. While listening to the sounds of the shofar, feel their power and reflect. (photo from Wikimedia Commons) Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the synagogue listening…
Yellow dates for New Year’s
To make biblical date honey, Middle Eastern Jews boil and press dates that range in color from yellow to brown. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan) The Torah describes Israel as eretz zvat chalav u’dvash, the land flowing with milk and…
Making your own traditions
As an alternative or addition to synagogue services, you could find a nice place outside in which to pray or reflect. (photo by Jan Lieberman via Wikimedia Commons) There is a lot of beauty to the traditional synagogue experience. However,…
Can we all get along?
Women of the Wall was founded as a minyan of women from different movements coming together on common ground for Rosh Chodesh. (photo by Michal Patelle via Wikimedia Commons) In April 2015 – in the aftermath of the death of…
The Jewish holiday of love
Since it takes place in summer, Tu b’Av has become popular for open-air events. A local example is the JNF Future’s annual Summer Sail, for which guests are encouraged to follow the tradition of wearing white. Picture this potentially risqué…
Make Shavuot special
At sundown on Saturday, June 11, Jews around the world will start the two-day holiday of Shavuot, which lasts only one day in Israel. Also known as the Festival of Weeks because it marks the completion of the counting of…
