Tag: Jewish Holidays
What’s with all the milky food on Shavuot?
I love cheesecake! Who doesn’t? And blintzes too. Shavuot is famous for the traditional dairy foods we enjoy on this lovely chag. It’s only one day in Israel and two in the Diaspora, but on...
Remains of the day: Cheese, in all its glorious forms
According to tradition, Shavuot—the two-day holiday that begins on the eve of the evening of May 25, the sixth day of the Jewish month of Sivan—marks the Israelites’ receiving of the Ten Commandments at...
Omer counters blend space and time, past and present
Tobi Kahn grasps an asymmetric block of wood in both hands. He turns the piece, a fluid combination of angles and curves painted a rich metallic pewter, to reveal the base: a perfect rectangle,...
This Passover season, stress the seasonings
Passover is just a few weeks away; there are signs of it everywhere. Kosher-for-Passover products are prominently displayed in major supermarkets. This year, especially, traditional dishes can be flavored and spiked with never-before-available kosher-for-Passover...
Jewish shoppers struggle with highest prices in recent memory for Passover food
A woman pushed her shopping cart down an aisle filled with Passover foods in a supermarket in northern New Jersey. She lifted a box of kosher-for-Passover soup mandle—a type of cracker—off the shelf and...
Post-Passover seder Shabbat dinner: Make it light and easy
The Passover seders fall midweek this year: the first one on Wednesday, April 5, and the second on Thursday, April 6. Most of us go out of our way to prepare substantial festive meals...
How Jews made the holiday of Purim personal
“Cursed is Hitler, cursed is Mussolini … Blessed is Roosevelt, blessed is Churchill.”
With these words, the Moroccan scribe Prosper Hassine concluded his account of World War II and the Holocaust. The story was familiar,...
What goes hand in hand with cherries? Chocolate!
HaAs a kid in my mother’s house, I’d use a drinking glass to cut out my rounds of dough for hamantaschen, those triangular Jewish cookies made for the holiday of Purim. Dipping the rim...
Eight fun facts about Shavuot in Israel
Now that summer is upon us, it’s time to get ready for what many consider to be the best holiday on the Jewish calendar: Shavuot. Coming seven weeks after Passover (Shavuot means “weeks” in...
Nostalgia in the form of rich dairy on Shavuot
It was a typical one-hour flight from Edinburgh to Shetland; tea and biscuits (cookies) were served by a smiling tartan-clad stewardess. My heart flipped as the little Saab plane bumped over the landing strip....