A security post at the Gate of the Moors/Mughrabi Gate. Jerusalem, July 19, 2017. (Mati Amar/TPS)
Summer in Jerusalem: As Israel continues to sweat through the hottest summer on record the Jewish Quarter of the Old City is full of tourists, seemingly oblivious to the heat. The restaurants leading from the Quarter towards the Western Wall pump with life, as does the Hurva Square, the… Read more »
A protester being removed by campus police at the University of California, Irvine, after he disrupted a speech by Michael Oren, who was then Israel's ambassador to the United States, Feb. 8, 2010. (JTA)
(JTA) — Dear Jewish community, So you wanna understand Israel-Palestine debates on campus? The first thing you have to do is stop talking about BDS. Shocking, right? We try. But really, the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign against Israel isn’t what Israel conversations on campus are all about… Read more »
The "Allergy Alert" kippah is designed to alert adults who might not be aware of a child's allergies. (iKippah)
(JTA) — At 3 1/2, Peretz Apfelbaum may not completely understand it yet, but some kitchens can put his life in danger. The Brooklyn boy is allergic to peanuts, cashews, pistachios, flax seeds, mustard seeds, coconut, peas, eggs and beef. Some of the foods give him hives, but the nuts can… Read more »
The Ultimate Jewish Potato Salad (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — If I am being honest, I have struggled in the past with making a good potato salad. It seems simple enough — boiled potatoes, mayo, some spices. But there is a bit of an art and science to making potato salad to ensure it… Read more »
Alan Gross with some of his favorite things -- a pastrami sandwich and a Cuban cigar -- at Loeb's Deli in Washington, D.C., July 12, 2017. (Ron Kampeas)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alan Gross contacted me a couple of months ago over Facebook Messenger. There was something he thought I should know. I was pleasantly surprised. I’d only exchanged pleasantries with Gross in the several times I’d seen him since his release from a Cuban prison in December… Read more »
(JTA collage)
(JTA) — Last year, I wrote an opinion piece for JTA about a term and a trend few Jews over the age of 30 had ever heard of: intersectionality. Coined in the late 1980s, intersectionality posits that various forms of oppression — racism, sexism, classism, ableism and homophobia — are all interconnected. According to… Read more »
Golda Tencer, standing, at a Shabbat dinner during the International Seminar in Yiddish Language and Culture in Warsaw, July 7, 2017. (Katarzyna Markusz)
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — When Gołda Tencer, the director of the Shalom Foundation and the Jewish Theater in Warsaw, lit the Sabbath candles last Friday, she was accompanied by dozens of people from various countries. Though their mother tongues differed, the voices at the table were united by a common… Read more »
Women from the Jewish community of Carpentras chatting while preparing for Shabbat at the town's synagogue, July 7, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
CARPENTRAS, France (JTA) — The synagogue in this Provence town is Western Europe’s oldest functioning Jewish house of worship — and one of the prettiest on the continent. The Synagogue of Carpentras, which this year is celebrating its 650th anniversary, has a Baroque-style interior and a gold-ornamented hall with a blue… Read more »
Quinoa Tabbouleh (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Tabbouleh is a classic Middle Eastern salad made with bulgur, tomatoes and a high ratio of chopped fresh herbs. It’s easy to make, fresh, delicious and healthy, making it a much-beloved side dish around the world. Instead of classic bulgur, we wanted to try… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — I am not built to be a free-range mother. I am anxious and overprotective by nature, and my years of experience as a social worker have only increased my awareness of everything that could happen to my daughters, from sexual abuse to traumatic brain injuries.… Read more »
Jeanette Chawki, far right, teaches League of Kitchens workshop participants how to cook Lebanese food. (Josefin Dolsten)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Several times a month Jeanette Chawki welcomes a handful of strangers into her Brooklyn home. There, the visitors learn about life in her native Lebanon, talk about their own backgrounds, and eat food — lots of it. Among the dishes visitors tried on a recent… Read more »
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley testifying during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Carmel Shama HaCohen, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, is second to none in his admiration for the Trump administration’s United Nations envoy, Nikki Haley. In fact, he’d like to clone her. Shama HaCohen appreciated Haley’s efforts in trying to head off last week’s vote by UNESCO’s Heritage… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — I took a poll of my friends when I was pregnant. We run in an observant crowd in Manhattan, and most of our friends have the kinds of names you’d find multiple times over at your Jewish summer camp: Adams and Davids, Elianas and Yaels. My… Read more »
Michael Steinhardt, who takes regular 90-minute strolls around his 55-acre private zoo, enjoys interacting with his tortoises. (Ben Sales)
MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. (JTA) – When Michael Steinhardt strolls around his 55-acre backyard for 90 minutes every morning, one of his favorite animals to see is the scimitar-horned oryx, whose antlers sweep back from its head like the swords for which they are named. But Steinhardt didn’t much like… Read more »
Israeli-Inspired Avocado Toast shown three ways. (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Avocado toast has been “trendy” for several years throughout the U.S. In fact, avocados have been so trendy, an entire avocado restaurant opened earlier this year in Brooklyn. And people are putting avocados in everything lately: brownies, salad dressing, even ice cream. After all,… Read more »
Molly Yeh has taken the food blogging world by storm with her bubbly personality and creative recipes. (Chantell Quernemoen)
(JTA) — Not much could have prepared Molly Yeh for moving from New York City to Grand Forks, North Dakota — a city of a little over 50,000 residents near the state’s eastern border with Minnesota. At the time of her move in 2013, Yeh (pronounced “yay,” as her… Read more »
Chickpeas are easy, cheap and high in fiber. (Wikimedia Commons)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Keeping a stocked pantry is a deep love of mine; it must run in my blood. My mother also was obsessed with having backups of her favorite products in the basement. There were always boxes of pasta, cans of beans, soup and tons of stuff… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — Kveller often writes about trending Jewish baby names — but what about more retro names that are due to come back in style? Parents-to-be may not want to go with what’s popular right now and instead choose something ahead of the curve — by which… Read more »
Bernadette Donfeld (left) and Esther Becker on a hill overlooking Shilo, where the Tabernacle was located for 369 years until destroyed by the Philistines. The photo was taken on a 2011 Southwest Torah Institute Israel trip. (Bob Donfeld).
Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker will hold an informational meeting about Southwest Torah Institute’s “Israel: Where the Past Shapes Your Soul” trip planned for October on Sunday, July 23 at 11 a.m. An Israeli-style brunch will be served. “Even if you have been to Israel before, every trip presents… Read more »
Holocaust Survivors at the Flatbush Jewish Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., remain active and engaged in their community through dance. (Stephen Shames/JFNA)
(JTA) — Nazi death marches crippled Mr. Cohen’s knees. The 94-year-old who survived Auschwitz now felt defeated trying to climb the stairs to his walk-up condo. He and his wife of 66 years used to be highly active in the Holocaust survivor community and frequently spoke at schools,… Read more »
