Jewish Holidays and Culture

Korczak’s Children

May 5, 2005

Janusz Korczak was a Polish Jewish educator who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto just prior to its liquidation in 1942. His story is at once tragic and courageous. Given the chance to escape the ghetto, Korczak chose to stay with his children, ultimately perishing along with them at Treblinka. “Korczak’s Children” is also […]

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The Magic of Pesach

April 22, 2005

Pesach is probably the most magical of Jewish holidays. And that really bugs the heck out of me! Before we go any further: here’s a spoiler alert: just like in a movie review, if you don’t want to know too much about the way I really think about some of the more obscure Pesach traditions, […]

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PDJ

December 23, 2004

We recently took off for a short vacation in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, with a group called Shabbat B’Teva. Literally meaning “Sabbath in Nature,” the group wraps hiking and tiyulim around a Shabbat atmosphere. The idea of getting out of the nasty cold of Jerusalem (for those of you who’ve never visited, it actually snows […]

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Out of Context

December 20, 2004

We were recently invited to a bar mitzvah “weekend” at the resort hotel of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, a few kilometers from where we live at the southernmost edge of Jerusalem. The bar mitzvah weekend is an alternative to the usual custom in our community where the bar mitzvah boy (or bat mitzvah girl) is called […]

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Donut Quiche

December 8, 2004

I know they’re bad for me. But I can’t resist. I’m talking about donuts, of course. Whatever shape, size or variety, I go do-m’shuga-nut over them. And at this time of year, as Hanukah season descends upon us, Israel is overflowing with that uniquely Jewish version, the sufgania. Sufganiot (that’s the plural) are a very […]

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Rock Hashana

September 20, 2004

Every family has its disagreements. Especially when there are teenagers around. Some are relatively simple and generally mundane. Like: Should a thirteen-year-old have an enforced bedtime? Or: Can he play on his new laptop whenever he wants? Others, though, are more spiritually profound. The burning question in our house at this time of year is: […]

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