Right in the middle of ימים נוראים – Yomim Noraim I find myself thinking about a dilemma: on the one hand, I am totally excited to organize a beit midrash at my house and give the people an opportunity to learn in a non-threatening environment. On the other hand – this is something I am not able to share…
Category: Jewish Stories
Some more of Jewish Food History Trivia before The High Holidays
It is always fun for me to flip through my cookbooks before a major Holiday. I love to look for stories behind the recipes, origins of foods we eat and their transitions throughout times and continents. Here, I am just going to post some fun facts about my favourite foods: Dates: First mentioned in Exodus 3:8…
The Year 5777 is Coming!
Sunday, יום ראשון , October 2 Jews all over the world will celebrate The New Year – רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה. This year’s number is quite unique – 5777. Number 7 was always kind of magic in the Jewish world – 7 days of the week, 7 days before the brit milah, 7 branches of the Menora as it…
Bits of Words Before the Hagim
We are almost at the end of Elul. And this means that the talk around us is about teshuva. Everyone tries to be more critical of themselves, more open to prayer, tzedakah, and understanding of the other. Everyone is thinking of doing more mitzvot. And, looks like everyone is preaching. Zniut! Wow, if we could only save the world by…
The Ghetto and Beyond
I decided to spend my Sunday and Monday at the Center for Jewish History attending a conference about the Jewish ghetto. The distinguished panel of presenters came from the top universities in the United States, Israel and Italy. A new Medici archives project was presenting materials ranging from general community related papers to personal stories of the individual…
Reading Shivhei ha-Besht
My love of learning anything concerning Jewish history brought me this time to a class on early Hasidism. //ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=noshingacro07-20&marketplace=amazon®ion=US&placement=1568211473&asins=1568211473&linkId=9c0e9d167ee0056d2e148390ddfec4d2&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>The book I bought for the class was first published in Hebrew in 1814 or 1815 from an earlier manuscript written by Rabbi Dov Ber ben Shmuel. The stories are remarkable on several levels, but…
For the Love of Books
I love books! I love to read them, love to own them, and no matter how many new gadget-reading devices will pop up on our ever-changing technology market, I will not back up. Leave the books alone! They are eternal! That’s my motto. Maybe it’s because I don’t see well, or maybe because a good book is…
Feeling Young Planning Limmud FSU
Staying on the subject of happiness at different stages of your life, I am happy to share great news: once again this year I am volunteering for Limmud FSU! This is, definitely, the best way of staying young. You are surrounded by young, smart, and fun to be with people! We have just spent a…
Happy?
Some time ago a friend of mine posted on Facebook “please define a happy relationship”. What a question! Does anyone have an answer? Looking back to the happiest days of my life, was I happy then? So we lived. In a hut with no water, no bathroom, no heat. Yet the happiest ever I would…
Throwback … Wednesday
There is a kind of social media tradition about a “throwback Thursday” when people are posting events/ pictures that remind them and others of the days gone by. But, I decided – why wait if something interesting brings you back to the best days of your life? This summer, as I said many times, of…
Vegetarian One-Pot Shabbat Dinner
So, apparently, it is very easy to make a delicious vegetarian one-pot (or pan?) Shabbat dinner. It, actually, reminded me of a passage in the Tanach (is this inevitable now?) when Daniel ha-navi said to the person in charge of his and his friends’ health and appearance for the king of Babylon: יב נַס-נָא אֶת-עֲבָדֶיךָ, יָמִים עֲשָׂרָה;…
Counting the Blessings
This week I merited to attend two brit milah ceremonies. Two new baby boys came into this world. Every time a child is born, we witness a miracle. Don’t tell me that it’s a natural thing. Of course, it is! However, anything can go wrong. But we hope, we pray. And – miracle of miracles…
Noshing Across the Nation 