Holidays as a child
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…
Life
Kibbutz’s beauty and history
Kibbutz Ginosar (photo from wikicommons) Planning a three-week trip to Israel last year, I booked a short kibbutz stay near the Sea of Galilee, the Kinneret. I chose Kibbutz Ginosar for no other reason than its location right on the…
Being Jewish in Sitka, Alaska
The mountains of Sitka, Alaska. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) “You have to look at Jews like Bina Gelbfish, to explain the wide range and persistence of the race. Jews who carry their homes in an old cowhide bag, on…
Rosh Hashanah’s many foods
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…
Value of is and ought
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.…
Feminine aspects of repentance
At Rosh Hashanah, the new moon is revealed. The Zohar, that classic mystical text from the 13th century, describes the High Holidays as a developmental process of female empowerment, which culminates in Yom Kippur. According to the Zohar, the place…
Zohar expert’s Selichot talks
Dr. Daniel Matt will speak in Vancouver at Or Shalom over Selichot, Sept. 20-21. (photo from Or Shalom) Even one of the world’s leading authorities on kabbalah has felt lost in the study of Jewish mysticism. Dr. Daniel Matt began…
Mystery photo … Aug. 30/19
A group of people at a Hillel gathering, 1970. Back row, left to right: unidentified, Richard Bass, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Bob Golden, unidentified, unidentified. Front row, from left: unidentified, unidentified, unidentified, Hildy Groberman. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.11673) If…
Visit complexities of Nablus
Joseph’s Tomb, inside the gate. (photo by Gil Zohar) “The bones of Joseph, which the Children of Israel brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem in the portion of the field that had been purchased by Jacob.” – Joshua…
Enter focaccia, stage right
Focaccia straight from the oven. (photo by Shelley Civkin) Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines, please. Or, in this case, your yeast. From zero to focaccia in one hour. My unpremeditated transformation from water-burner to bread-baker is shocking even to…
