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Tag: Passover
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VIDEO: Obama roasts Emanuel, says he’s the ‘Angel of Death’ for GOP
Video de Pesaj from Argentina—‘Don’t worry, be matzoh!‘
I am now the voice of my parents
There was never a time in my life when I did not know about the Holocaust.In a strange way, I think I just took the idea of this for granted.
Table for none?
In December 2006, the Prime Grill, a branch of the popular New York kosher steakhouse, opened its doors in Beverly Hills promising a new experience in kosher dining. But little more than a year after it opened, rumors spread that the luxurious restaurant on Rodeo Drive was about to close.
Black-Jewish Passover not about blame
I am disturbed, not by the content, but by the direction, of the entire discussion regarding the relationship between blacks and Jews, and particularly by the discussion about comments supposedly made at a recent awards ceremony here in Los Angeles.
Truth in Storytelling
It's too bad, but I didn't know from Pesach until rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.
Missing Matzah? It’s a Chain Store Problem
The hunt for matzah stretched beyond the afikomen this year. A matzah shortage this week left many Southern California shoppers driving to multiple supermarkets in search of the unleavened bread, which plays a leading role during Passover seders and is used throughout the week.
Briefs: Newsweek ranks the rabbis, ‘Passover in a Box’
News Briefs
Where’s the Passover story?
It's one of the great mysteries of the Jewish tradition. Every year, Jews around the world gather around a seder table to retell the story of our people's liberation from slavery. You can read a thousand articles, talk to a thousand rabbis, and they'll all say the same thing: At the Passover seder, we retell the story of the Exodus.
There's only one problem with this statement: It's not really true.
Four Questions
The controversy that erupted last week over allegedly anti-Semitic remarks by a local pastor raises, appropriately enough for this time of year, four questions.
Israelis build new traditions at L.A. seders
Nitzan and Shaul Barakan had to come all the way from Israel to the United States to learn words like "afikoman" and "seder plate."
The couple, both born and raised on Kibbutz Kinneret, didn't have a clue that there is a haggadah that looks nothing like the one they used on the kibbutz.
Had Gadya —according to S.Y. Agnon
Both the composition and inclusion of "Had Gadya" into the Passover haggadah are shrouded in mystery.
This popular Aramaic song, chanted at the end of the seder purportedly to keep the children awake, is dated no earlier than the 15th century. Composed of 10 stanzas, "Had Gadya" follows a cumulative pattern similar to "The House That Jack Built," where a new detail is added in each stanza.
Passover in Palestine—memories of seders in an Israel on the cusp of statehood
On the eve of Passover 1948, Rabbi Moshe Saks, known as Bud to his family and friends, was stationed in Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood, trying to figure out how to get Passover supplies and ammunition to the embattled Haganah soldiers in the Makor Haim neighborhood.
Twas the week before Passover
Food issues
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.
On the third night, the seder went green
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.
Women keep out—this seder’s for men only
"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.
New haggadahs bring fresh approaches to celebration
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.
Chef Akasha adds fresh twist to holiday traditions
Akasha Richmond, a self-trained chef and artisan-style baker who has been catering events in the Los Angeles area for the past 20 years, shares some Passover recipes.
The matzah challenge…VideoJew’s blind taste test
Save the beans, save yourself—free the kitniyot!
Enter Elijah, designated drinker
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."
New Pesach haggadah is off the page!
Kids page.
Passover scholastic debate conflict resolved, sort of
After months of contentious back and forth over the scheduling of the statewide high school debate tournament on the first night of Passover, Jewish leaders and tournament organizers have reached a half-hearted detente that will not change the date but will ensure such a scheduling snafu will not happen again.
Briefs: Debate tournament date debated, Weiss out of recall danger, Governor signs Iran divestment bill
Community briefs.
No debate about it—California high school tournament takes place on Passover
The annual California high school debate tournament traditionally attracts more than 800 contestants to its weekend-long event, many of them Jewish and all of them students who have worked long and hard to prepare for the intense competition.
The Well-Blessed Person
Feed a person manna from heaven, and he wants quail. Give him the Torah, give him a Promised Land, lead him through battle without a defeat - and he wants to turn back at the first intimation of challenge and risk.
Pesach—in your own words
If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I asked you if there were Passover experiences that really moved you. Well, all I can say is I'm glad I asked.
Road to Freedom Is Paved With Relationships
My father was a man who was not tied to money. Most important in life, he taught me, are our relationships. When we care about others, we will then find the essence of who we are.
Is Pot Kosher for Pesach?
The Green Leaf Party, a small Israeli political party that supports legalizing pot, announced March 27 that marijuana might not be kosher for Passover.
March Madness means April Angst: Pesach vs. NCAA
This year, and not for the first time, my celebration of a major American holiday will be stymied by my celebration of a major Jewish holiday. Monday night, April 2, I will be at my parents' table for the first night of Passover. At the same time, I will not be in front of the television watching the NCAA tournament's championship game.
Silencing Passover
You'll have to forgive me this week if I get all wistful and spiritual on you, but there's something about Passover I need to get off my chest. I have a question for my readers. How many of you have been so moved by a Passover experience that something inside of you changed?
Deliverance
Many, many years ago, in order to impress a young woman, I volunteered to make chicken soup for her Passover seder.
Resident heroes of Sderot mark Pesach under rocket threat
There are some, however, who will not share our sense of security this year. These people, although they live in the homeland of the Jewish people, will not be singing joyful songs with full gusto or reclining in freedom with the same sense of relaxation as royalty this coming Passover -- they are the citizens of the city of Sderot.
Japanese video—- ‘Improve your matzoh handling technique’
Breaking matzoh clean
Just breathe: Herzog legacy lives on with new wines
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.
When a couple divorces, the custody battle goes beyond dishes and children
Jews are not immune to America's divorce endemic.
College Students Find High Holidays’ Place in Higher Learning
Gone are the days when observant Jewish students suffered for their absences from class or exams on the High Holidays or Passover. The California Education Code fully protects students' rights to observe religious holidays free of academic penalty.
7 Days in the Arts
7 Days in the Arts
Letters 06-16-2006
Letters to the Editor
Make Days Count
When I was in my early 30s I joined a havurah, a group of professionals seeking a deeper Jewish involvement. And during this time of year, just after Passover, we didn't know what to do with the counting of the Omer. How could we make it relevant and purposeful?
Film Paints Picture of Witty Polish Artist
Throughout his life, until his death at 57 in 1951, Szyk always returned to his Jewish themes, from argumentative shtetl figures and paintings of Jewish craftsmen and merchants to Jewish refugees and fighters.
Shopping for Jews? Clean Up on Aisle 5
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.
Food for Thought
Scientists will tell you that the senses of smell and taste are most strongly associated with memory. I think eating resembles what learning the Passover story should be -- we allow something from outside of ourselves to enter us; we "digest it" and change it (it is we who must tell the story so that our children can hear it) and it changes us and nourishes us and stays with us forever.
First Person - A Coming Out (of Egypt) Story
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.
7 Days in The Arts
The bread don't rise, but spirits may. Two events tonight focus on Passover through music and comedy. Celebrate Chol Hamoed Pesach at Stephen S. Wise Temple with this evening's "Let My People Sing" series event, "Tears, Laughter and Spirit."
Young Moseses
Los Angeles hosted the national kickoff for LiveNetworks last weekend, bringing together about 75 of the program's 87 participants. Hailing from five regional "hubs," the participants will meet about six times throughout the year in their hub location. In the process, they'll meet with local leaders and philanthropists, attend seminars and receive individual coaching and mentoring.
PASSOVER: Don’t Be a Slave to Tradition
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.
PASSOVER FOOD: Treats to Leaven Desire for Dessert
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.
PASSOVER: The 11th Plague: Boredom
Not all seders are sit-down affairs. When "Dayenu" begins at the home of Simone Shenassa of West Orange, N.J., everyone takes bunches of scallions and hits everyone else, to imitate the whipping of the slaves.
PASSOVER: You Say Charoses and I Say Charoset
I was so excited when a publishing house in New York accepted my children's book for publication. Geared to preschoolers, it's a short piece that recounts the steps of the Passover seder in simple, upbeat verse. What I didn't realize was that the work would need to be translated.
PASSOVER: Songs for a Swinging Seder
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.
PASSOVER: 10 Contemporary Plagues
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.
PASSOVER: Modern Causes Add Meaning to Seder
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.
PASSOVER: Try to Avoid Asking the Fifth Question
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.
PASSOVER: Myriad Ways to Tell an Ancient Tale
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.
The Ultimate Taste Test
While this was the third year for Kosher World, it was the first time the show joined with the ethnic and halal markets, under the umbrella of the World Ethnic Market.
PASSOVER: Yemenite Flavor at the Seder
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.
PASSOVER: Prague’s Matzah Metamorphosis
An anonymous source breathes heavily on the other end of the receiver, softly intoning that the only way to get the goods is from an inside contact. Through friends, I discretely discover my intermediary, who leads me through several dark corridors for an encounter with an angry man.
Humor in ‘Eat’ an Acquired Taste
"When Do We Eat?" centers on the Stuckman family, which includes grandfather Artur (Jack Klugman); father Ira (Michael Lerner), who tries to lead "the world's fastest seder"; his neglected wife, Peggy (Lesley Ann Warren); and their children.
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