Looking ahead (StockSnap/ Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain)
RICHARDSON, Texas (JTA) — Urbandictionary.com is an open-source site where the average citizen contributes definitions to new and old words and slang. As the High Holidays approach, I’ve been contemplating the phrase “epic fail.” According to one entry on Urbandictionary.com, epic fail means “complete and total failure when success should… Read more »
(The Nosher via JTA) — This is a perfect salad to eat for lunch on a weekday or as a first course for a brunch or even during a holiday like Rosh Hashanah. It’s especially nice when served plated individually and topped with the sweet potatoes and cashews. Note:… Read more »
Students at a Muslim elementary school in Morton Grove, Illinois, praying in the school gymnasium, Sept. 22, 2006. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Jessica Abdelnabbi-Berrocal wanted her local public schools in Jersey City, New Jersey, to close for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in September, she looked to her Jewish heritage. The daughter of a Sephardic Jewish mother and Catholic father, Abdelnabbi-Berrocal never had any… Read more »
The Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Site. (Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem Spokesperson)
Biblical archaeology was revolutionized several years ago when evidence of the existence of the alleged kingdom of David was brought to light in the form of a fortified Iron Age town excavated in the Elah Valley by Hebrew University Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Israeli Antiquities Authority archaeologist Saar Ganor.… Read more »
Gene Wilder, right, in a scene with Cleavon Little from the 1974 comedy "Blazing Saddles." (Warner Bros./Courtesy of Getty Images)
(JTA) — Last year I joined some 3,000 people at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark for a wide-screen showing of Mel Brooks’ 1974 Western parody “Blazing Saddles.” In the onstage interview that followed, Brooks, then 89, was beside himself in his delight at sharing his 42-year-old comedy with a real… Read more »
Israeli sailors marching in Manhattan during the 1976 festivities for the bicentennial and Operation Sail. (Courtesy of Hadar Shalev)
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. (JTA) – The Israeli missile boat Tarshish had just returned home in June 1976 when crew members learned near midnight that they would be heading back to sea two days later for another couple of months. They… Read more »
Hershey Felder sings, acts and plays the piano in "Maestro." (Courtesy of Hershey Felder Presents)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – There is a remarkable moment in “Maestro,” Hershey Felder’s one-man show about Leonard Bernstein, when the late famed conductor-composer is shown in an old film clip on a giant screen and the two perform a seamless piano duet from Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde.” The tour de… Read more »
Sea Secret’s “Magic Marine” modest swimsuit (Courtesy of Sea Secret)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — According to the latest tally, at least 30 French municipalities have banned the product that the Paris-born businesswoman Yardena G. sells for a living. Yardena, a haredi Orthodox mother of nine from Jerusalem, owns the Sea Secret fashion label of modest swimwear for devoutly religious women.… Read more »
Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin At a recent political fundraiser, an acquaintance made an interesting comment. He said he was jealous that, although I am an American resident, I had my native country of Canada on which to fall back. My buddy, a political junkie, was referring to the presidential elections in November. If… Read more »
“Incredible! From the Bronx to Bnei Brak: The Amazing True Story of Rabbi Yossi Wallis” by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer is the title for this year’s Women’s Academy for Jewish Studies community-wide book brunch, which will be presented by Southwest Torah Institute at Congregation Chofetz Chayim on Sunday, Sept. 25… Read more »
Eve Shapiro, M.D. The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will sponsor a lecture by Eve Shapiro, M.D., “What Century Are We In? Women’s Rights and Access to Healthcare,” on Saturday, Sept. 10, 1:30-4 p.m. at Academy Hall, Atria Bell Court Gardens, 6653 E. Carondelet Drive. Shapiro, a Tucson pediatrician, specializes in adolescent… Read more »
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron blows a shofar at Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ ethical wills workshop at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging Aug. 11. (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
An ordinary will is about leaving money and property. But there is also a way to leave the legacy of who you are and your values, philosophy, religious beliefs, what you hold most dear — even your favorite recipe. This is called an ethical will. About 20 people gathered… Read more »
Jewishtucson.org, Tucson’s Jewish community website, has launched Nosh & More, a recipe exchange. At jewishtucson.org/nosh-more, food lovers can submit everything from treasured traditional recipes to contemporary takes on Jewish cuisine. Participants are encouraged to include a bit of history or a fond remembrance on what makes the recipe special… Read more »
Play in progress at the Jewish Federation-Northwest first mah jongg tournament, Nov. 15, 2015.
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division will hold its Second Annual Mah Jongg Tournament and Silent Auction on Sunday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., with registration at 9:30 a.m. The event, which will include three rounds of tournament play, a breakfast assortment, a buffet lunch, prizes and… Read more »
Israeli left- and right-wing activists demonstrate in Tel Aviv, April 21, 2011. (Roni Schutzer/Flash90)
(JTA) — “If there is something that deprives me of sleep it is the fissures in Israeli society,” former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon declared, just after he resigned in May. That same day Ehud Barak, who preceded Yaalon as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense minister from 2009 to… Read more »
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(Kveller via JTA) — I’m an outsider in my own home. As of two weeks ago, when we converted our two young children in the mikvah, I officially became the only non-Jewish member of our household. This was only official in paperwork, not in practice. I have been living… Read more »
Baseball writer Dan Schlossberg, left, with the former Atlanta Brave and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz. (Courtesy of Dan Schlossberg)
(JTA) – For many, summer is all about the three B’s: baseball, beaches and books. With the weather and pennant races sizzling, two journalists and the mayor of baseball’s mythical home village of Cooperstown, New York — all Jewish — have provided their takes about a sport that has… Read more »
Berry Spinach Quinoa Salad (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Quinoa and I have not always been friends. I much prefer rice and pasta over the hyped-up grain even though I know people love it. And what’s not to love: It’s gluten-free, packed with fiber and protein, and it’s even Passover-friendly. So since it’s… Read more »
Shaul Ladany in his suburban Beersheba home with a prized piece of his Theodor Herzl collection, left. (Hillel Kuttler)
OMER, Israel (JTA) – Shaul Ladany, a two-time Olympian, acknowledged that he was “very happy” that the International Olympic Committee finally held an official memorial for the 11 Israelis who were killed in a terrorist raid at the 1972 Munich games. But Ladany, an Israeli racewalker who still… Read more »
(JTA) — Jewish swimmer Anthony Ervin became the oldest Olympic gold medalist in an individual swimming event, at 35 capping a comeback from burnout and drug use in the aftermath of his gold medal at 19. Ervin edged France’s Florent Manaudou by one one-hundredth of a second in the men’s… Read more »
