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The parking lot at the Rambam Health Care Campus is a dual-purpose facility capable of converting into a fortified 2,000-bed underground hospital in times of conflict. (photo from Rambam Health Care Campus) Not unexpectedly, southern Israel suffered more than other areas of…
(photo from Deror avi via commons.wikimedia.org) It’s the children, at first, that inspire awe, the infants now walking, the toddlers talking, the grade schoolers freshly combed and pressed, the high schoolers immense, the college students all but unrecognizable in their…
Carrots represent the hope that Israel’s enemies will be “cut off,” or kept away. (photo by Stephen Ausmus / USARS via en.wikipedia.org) Most Jews, religious or not, celebrate Passover, opening the holiday with a seder – fewer know that a seder…
Fish is a traditional part of the Rosh Hashanah meal. Since Rosh Hashanah translates literally as “Head of the Year,” some people will eat the head of a fish as part of the holiday meal, or at least have one…
The concept of SoftWheel was initially imagined as an improvement for wheelchairs, but its potential uses are numerous. (photo from SoftWheel) While new patents and inventions appear all the time, they don’t often aim at a mainstay, like the common wheel, which…
It is amazing how many common themes run through even the most disparate books. The selection reviewed by the Jewish Independent this year includes both picture books and novels for teens; the topics range from genocide and oppression, to a…
The tuna salad recipe is one of Lynn Kirsche Shapiro’s mother’s most popular recipes. (photo by Nick Ulivieri Photography) The first section of Food, Family and Tradition: Hungarian Kosher Family Recipes and Remembrances (Cherry Press, 2013) is a family album, which Lynn Kirsche…
A small black hole gains mass. Dense cold gas (green) flows toward the centre of a stellar cluster (red cross in blue circle) with stars (yellow); the erratic path of the black hole through the gas (black line) is randomized…
On the right track to finding a place to purchase shofarot. (photo from Steven Finkleman) Heading down the B2 from Swakopmund to Windhoek, I could see by the road signage that this would be a prime location to search for the perfect…
In Apple Days: A Rosh Hashanah Story by Allison Sarnoff Soffer (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2014), Katy and her classmates share what they like best about Rosh Hashanah with their teacher. Katy recalls how each year she and her mom go apple…
Mikve Israel-Emanuel in Willemstad, Curaçao, is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas. (photo from Masada Siegel) The night was aglow with candles and the silky white sand found its way in between my toes. I grinned, as it only…
Apple clafouti (photo by Barry A. Kaplan) From Sybil Kaplan: A couple of years ago, I discovered clafouti, the French dessert of fruit, covered with a batter, baked and served warm. What I loved most was that it was good year…
More than 120 women attended Community Mega Challah Bake that was led by challah-baking expert Rochie Pinson, who also gave a lecture. (photo from Chabad Lubavitch BC) More than 120 women from across Greater Vancouver gathered on Wednesday evening, Sept. 10,…
Ever hear of Heifer International? No? Until recently, I’d never heard of it either. I was talking to my grandsons, ages 7 and 3, via the webcam perched atop my computer screen. The boys were telling me about their Shabbat…
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are nearly here! A memorable way to include some special inspiration for you and your children is to drop into the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library, where you’ll find a great variety of books perfect…
During a festival when people try and increase their “blessings,” adding many different wines provides the opportunity to keep proclaiming HaTov v’HaMeitiv. (photo courtesy of Yarden Inc.) The Rosh Hashanah meal is a festive affair. Traditions abound as to how the…
Bazelet HaGolan wine varietals include cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay. (photo from bazelet-hagolan.com) The fourth in a series featuring nine Israeli wine producers features Yoav Levy of Bazelet HaGolan Winery. The most recent article – on Domaine du Castel – was…
The key to understanding the confusing global landscape of the 21st century is to recognize that there is nothing normal or logical about it. If you’re confused by current events and concerned with the recent surge of antisemitism and the…
The two-state solution was one of the most talked about issues in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Not everyone is talking about a two-state solution these days, however. As a regular reader of Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, I…
The magic on the journey down the Salmon River comes from exhilarating rapids safe for the whole family and from the experience of being disconnected from “real life” and the electronics that distract us from the here and now. (photo from…
An illuminated Chumash from the El Escorial Library collection in Madrid. (photo from Courtesy of El Escorial Library) Everyone has heard: “All good things must come to an end.” This saying certainly holds true when talking about Spanish Jewry’s Golden Age. Back…
The Great Synagogue of Florence, one of the most beautiful in Europe, was built in 1882 in the Moorish style. (photo by Shoshana Reich) We got to Florence, that inimitable Italian city of art and beauty, in a roundabout way. First, we…
An artists’s rendering of the new facility now under construction in Bnei Brak. (photo from Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Centre) Chavi (not her real name) awkwardly positions herself on the chair in the group therapy room. The doctors gave her parents no choice,…
According to Jewish law, every seven years, agricultural fields are to lie fallow during the Shmita, or Sabbatical. (photo from commons.wikimedia.org) This Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the year 5755, a year that has a special significance, as a Shmita, or…
The Catholic Church did not initiate diplomatic relations with the state of Israel until 1993 and, according to the Italian writer Giulio Meotti, things haven’t been all rainbows since then either. The creation of a thriving Jewish state creates a…
Near the end of World Without Jews (Yale University Press, 2014), we find this passage from a letter written in June of 1943 by a Wehrmacht officer named Wilm Hosenfeld, a Catholic, a schoolteacher in civilian life who had come…
Jews are the quintessential successful minority group by any economic measure. They are disproportionately represented in the top rankings in business, finance, the arts, scientific research, architecture, medicine and law. Likewise, Mormons and new immigrants to the United States from…
Shirley Graetz’s She Wrote on Clay (Hadley Rille Books, 2013) is so intriguing, so mesmerizing, so unique, so well-written, I could not put it down! Graetz was born in Dusseldorf, Germany. She came to study at the Hebrew University of…
Christianity and Judaism have many customs and symbolism in common. Naturally, as the aphorism states, the child does not stray far from the mother. We both take vows to repair our character. But, in one area, we grossly diverge: the…
It was Aug. 9, 2001. I was in Jerusalem after 19 years absence, to attend a convention and do research on a memoir, Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Foreign Correspondent in Israel (still unpublished). I was staying…
