Video de Pesaj from Argentina—‘Don’t worry, be matzoh!’

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Dave Lieberman keeps it hot in the kitchen

By Marcie Somers

He's only 28, but Dave Lieberman already has two cookbooks and two television shows on the Food Network. With no formal culinary training, Lieberman is among today's hottest young celebrity chefs.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

New haggadahs bring fresh approaches to celebration

By Sandee Brawarsky

This season, several new haggadahs raise new questions. New interpretations bring new approaches to the seder, enabling readers and participants to bring new layers of meaning to their own celebrations of the holiday.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Loving your veggies can lighten the seder

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax

Faye Levy doesn't look like anyone who's ever had a problem with her weight. The prolific cookbook author stands at 4-foot-10, and weighs about 100 pounds.

But somewhere in the mid-1980s, just as she was working on "Chocolate Sensations" and "Dessert Sensations," she realized that testing those recipes, on top of six years at cooking school in Paris -- and following every enticing smell into street markets and cafes -- had added a lot of weight to her tiny frame.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Women keep out—this seder’s for men only

By Amy Klein

"Avadim Hayinu," one of the first refrains of the Passover seder, usually refers to the fact that we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt. "What enslaves us as men," is another interpretation -- this at The Man Seder, the third annual men-only pre-Passover gathering, which takes place at American Jewish University this year on April 13.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

On the third night, the seder went green

By Amy Klein

Passover is also called the "Holiday of Spring," a time when green symbolizes new life. The color also represents all things eco-friendly, which serves as the inspiration for this year's Workmen's Circle community seder.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Food issues

By Rob Eshman

Every Passover The Jewish Journal receives story pitches for a new batch of seders that the organizers tout as original or groundbreaking. Evidently the traditional ritual, at which Jews gather and retell the story of our people's liberation from slavery in Egypt, is so 2000 B.C.E.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Market maven enjoys love affair at the farm stand

By Danielle Berrin

More than chef or author -- both of which she is -- Amelia Saltsman is an advocate for the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, a doyenne of good taste whom everyone here seems to know. The farmers invite her judgment on their best produce; the chefs ask for advice on recipes.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Enter Elijah, designated drinker

By Shoshana Lewin-Fischer

Passover is a holiday near and dear to Marc Jaffe's heart. So when the "Seinfeld" and "Mad About You" writer went to a friend's house for a seder last year, he was let down when an Elijah's entrance gag bombed.

"They shook the table. I thought, 'You gotta be kidding me,'" he said. "You gotta have better effects than that."

Thursday, March 29, 2007

The seder offers 15 steps toward empowerment

By Rabbi Michael Gotlieb

Fifteen steps or ritual components make up the Passover seder. Knowing that in advance can empower your guests and everyone else gathered around the dinner table. Most haggadot list the 15 steps at the beginning of the text. Think of it as a key, or GPS, to help you navigate through this age-old tradition. In our home, we sing the 15 steps together, repeating them up to the ritual section being observed until we've completed all 15 parts.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Did you know?  Little-known facts about Passover and Judaism to share at the seder table

By Rafael Guber

Little known facts about Judaism and Passover.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Get your juices flowing with fruit-infused foods

By Jeff Nathan

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Confessions of a kosher wine snob

By J.D. Smith

Passover is finally here and while the family is wrangling over who will play host and who's invited, I'm wrangling with which wines to serve.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Japanese video --- ‘Improve your matzoh handling technique’

Breaking matzoh clean

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Just breathe: Herzog legacy lives on with new wines

By Amy Klein

Herzog is just one of many kosher labels around the world that hope to change the image of kosher wine. It's a two-pronged battle: The first is to change the perception of kosher wines in the mainstream world; the second is to change the kosher wine drinker's palate to appreciate finer wines.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Shopping for Jews? Clean Up on Aisle 5

By Sue Fishkoff

Margie Pomerantz and her fellow volunteers from Congregation Beth David, a nearby Conservative synagogue, were out looking for Jews. In a supermarket. Unaffiliated Jews, if possible, but they weren't being picky.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

First Person - A Coming Out (of Egypt) Story

By Jeff Bernhardt

Sixteen years ago this month; Jeff Bernhardt came out of the closet to his family, to free himself from the bondage of keeping this huge and personal part of him from them.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Don’t Be a Slave to Tradition

By Joel Haber

Here was my dilemma when I came of age and began making my own seders: Should I maintain tradition even though I didn't have the same associations with these foods that my mother did? Since Passover celebrates freedom (another traditional name for the holiday is Zman Cheiruteinu, or The Time of Our Freedom), I wanted to express my freedom by making foods of my own choosing, rather than feeling bound by a menu that was "traditional" only due to its roots in Eastern European cuisine.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER FOOD: Treats to Leaven Desire for Dessert

By Judy Zeidler

Something new for the holiday, use the charoset ingredients to make a Passover Fruit Cake filled with nuts and dried fruit that offers a tasty and a crunchy treat. It is similar to the Italian delicacy known as Panforte that originated in Sienna. The mixture is tossed together in a large bowl, spooned into parchment-lined baking pans, and baked for an hour and a half. The good news is that these loaves will easily keep for the eight days of the holiday.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Songs for a Swinging Seder

By George Robinson

Of all the Jewish holidays, none is so firmly rooted in the home and so joyously celebrated with song as Passover. This simple fact would lead you to expect an avalanche of Passover records, but this year the avalanche is more like a mild rain of pebbles, at least in the quantity department.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Modern Causes Add Meaning to Seder

By Amy Klein

Passover is a time for remembrance, but it is also a time for making memories relevant, and at many seders in Los Angeles, there is a practice of incorporating meaningful events of the day into the ritual dinner.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: 10 Contemporary Plagues

By The Editors

In the Passover haggadah, we read of the 10 Plagues that God sent to convince Pharoah to let the Hebrew slaves go free. The plagues -- bloody, violent, magical -- are a dramatic highpoint of the narrative. Mindful of the pain these plagues brought even to innocent Egyptians, Jews have traditionally spilled out a drop of their festive seder wine at the recitation of each plague.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Myriad Ways to Tell an Ancient Tale

By Sandee Brawarsky

Every haggadah has a story, its own story, beyond that of the exodus from Egypt. Depending on illustrations, design, typesetting, additions, where the edition is printed and who commissioned its creation, each version is a marker of Jewish history.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Try to Avoid Asking the Fifth Question

By Rabbi Stewart L. Vogel

While there are only four questions posed in the haggadah, most seders struggle with the unasked fifth question, "When are we going to eat?" It is asked, not only by hungry children, but also by adults who feel disconnected to the rituals of their ancestors.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

PASSOVER: Yemenite Flavor at the Seder

By Nili Goldstein

Yemenite Jews in Israel live longer and healthier lives than other Israelis. Over the years, many researchers have attributed the Yemenite's good health to the simplicity of their cooking and their use of herbs and spices. Fenugreek, for example, a staple spice in our kitchens, has shown promise in research to treat diabetes and high cholesterol.