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Tag: Passover
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The Next Big Question...
The seder is all about questions. The evening starts with the famous four, asked by the youngest present, but if the seder is what it should be, it doesn’t stop there. Everyone around the table — from the youngest all the way to the oldest — is encouraged to dissect, debate and shamelessly pontificate over each bit of the haggadah and over any part of Jewish tradition, ideally well into the night.
Civil War Jews Who Weren’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie
At the Passover seder next Wednesday evening, our children will recite the traditional question, “How is this night different from all other nights?” But the adults at the table are the ones who appreciate how this night really is different — not only from the rest of the year, but from the Passover seders of the past. As I started writing my third novel about Jewish spies during the Civil War, I began to wonder if American Jews had ever sat down at a seder where every part of the meal was served by slaves. As I discovered in my research, they did.
The Diet Cycle — One Woman’s Journey to Get Off the Bike for Good
One day, almost three years after the birth of my youngest child, I looked in the mirror. I hated what I saw. I had been carrying around “baby weight” through four births, at least that’s what I kept telling myself. It seemed, though, that I was suddenly able to see clearly that this wasn’t baby weight at all. I was fat, plain and simple.
A Seder Is Not a Seder Is Not a Seder…
My Passover odyssey began in 1991, when I decided to organize a community seder. It would be homemade affair in a rented room, with my children, cousins and friends creating the decorations, skits, music and conversation topics.
Making Songs Stick
When Mara Elena Arenson rolled her plastic crate of matzah, horseradish, tambourines and rhythm sticks into the preschool classroom at the Reconstructionist synagogue Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, the 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds excitedly called out her name. They knew that the lesson would be interactive: They’d be able to sing, sway and play instruments to the music of her guitar. What they didn’t know is that Arenson, a cantorial student at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles, uses the principles of the Suzuki rhythm method with the hope that these songs will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Thinking Outside the Matzah Ball Box
When the Israelites rushed out of Egypt, Pharaoh’s men on their heels, they hurriedly bundled their belongings, food included, to carry as much as they could on their backs and donkeys. Seeking to nourish themselves throughout their desert journey to the Promised Land, they rolled together unleavened bread crumbs, eggs and oil to create a round, nutritious finger food. They heated these in water jugs, along with chicken bone scraps, to preserve them and give them flavor. And that’s how matzah ball soup was born.
Chicken and Duck Soup
Exploding Knives, and Other Hazards of Kashering
Let me just start by admitting that I probably didn’t really need to put the knife directly on my burner. But it was the first time in a very long time I was kashering anything, and I had conflicting guidance from my rabbi and my mother, and I thought I needed to drop a hot metal object into my hot water urn to make it kosher for Pesach (I was totally wrong. Do not try it at home.).
RECIPE: “Power” BBQ Brisket
Day 1: Prep time 30 minutes. Resting time 4-12 hours. Day 2: Prep time one hour. Cooking time approximately four hours. Resting time up to two hours.
‘Power’ Brisket: Adding Barbecue Flavor for Pesach
My friend called from New York the other day. He wanted to get my recipe for smoked barbecue brisket so that he could make it for Passover.
“I’m really tired of bad brisket,” he said wearily.
RECIPE: Yemenite Charoset/Charoset Truffles
1 cup pitted, chopped dates, 1/2 cup chopped dried figs
RECIPE: Passover Baked Vegetable Stuffing
1/4 cup olive oil, 3 onions, finely chopped
RECIPE: Judy’s Passover Roasted Chicken
3 tablespoons safflower or olive oil, 2 onions, thinly sliced
RECIPE: Judy’s Passover Chicken Soup
2 pounds chicken necks and gizzards, tied in cheesecloth, 4 large onions, diced
One-Pot Passover Dinner: Just the Recipe to Cut Costs
RECIPE: Flourless Chocolate and Pistachio Cake
2 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 1/2 pistachio nuts, coarsely ground
New Traditional Haggadot Reflect Freedom
Why is this Passover different than all other Passovers? On most Passovers, it is the liberal Jewish denominations that seek to reinterpret the holiday traditions, often viewing them through the prism of contemporary struggles for civil rights and environmental preservation.
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.
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Featured Stories
Film
Oren Moverman’s ‘The Messenger’: The unseen casualties of war
When filmmaker Oren Moverman returned to Tel Aviv, on leave from his paratrooper unit during the first Lebanon War, he often shut himself in his room and repeatedly watched the Vietnam War saga “Apocalypse Now.”
Calendar
Picks and Clicks for November 21-27, 2009
Venezuelan playwright Moisés Kaufman brings the historical drama surrounding fallen English playwright Oscar Wilde to the stage in “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.” Using transcripts and real quotes from Wilde’s infamous trials, as well as newspaper
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