Noshing Across the Nation

Children, Israel, Food, Torah – things I love and talk about often!

Category: me

  • Another Day, Another Year

    So here we are, again, Ready (?) to stand in front of HaShem begging for mercy. אבינו מלךנו – our father, our king – we cry asking for a better year that the one passed. Somehow, the liturgy of the High Holidays always brings me to inner tears. I don’t think I am able to…

  • Parshat ha Shavuah Verses Nitzavim-Vayelech / נִצָּבִים-וַיֵּלֶךְ

    I am starting this post with tribulation. The reason is that I am not at all sure that the minor event that happened yesterday would be as distressing to my readers as it was to me. I am really curious to see by reactions to this post if I am living in a dreamland, or…

  • A Small Anniversary

    Today marks an interesting anniversary for me – it has been three years since I have started this blog sharing first recipes, then a few verses, and finally some of my own thoughts on Torah with you, my readers. I remember after my first week my amazement at the fact that people who don’t know…

  • Parshat ha Shavuah Verses Shoftim / שֹׁפְטִים

    People think about different things when their minds drift away from the task at hand. Being super busy now at work, I somehow still always manage to find my way to Israel in my mind.  And today I am missing it so much it hurts. Maybe one of the reasons is that here, in the…

  • Just One Verse in the Dread of New York Summer

    Over Shabbat I was trying to walk. All I could master was a few blocks to Ocean Parkway, where I found no relief and the same few blocks back home. All I could think of was my walk to the Grand Synagogue of Jerusalem two summers ago. The heat was much worse. The  air was…

  • Parshat ha Shavuah Verses Re’eh / ראה

    This is a Parshah of choices. To go right or left. To live or to die. To walk straight or in curved lines. כו  רְאֵה, אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם–הַיּוֹם:  בְּרָכָה, וּקְלָלָה. 26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: כז  אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה–אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁמְעוּ, אֶל-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם, הַיּוֹם. 27 the blessing, if ye…

  • Summer Vegetarian Delights

    Summer is the best time to experiment with vegetables. It is, of course, easier to do if you live on the land, or in one of those countries like Israel, where everything tastes delicious. My digital nomad, daughter, currently in Croatia with RemoteYear is munching on red currants that we very rarely get here, for…

  • Parshat ha Shavuah Verses Deuteronomy / דְּבָרִים

    This past Shabbat we have said “Be Strong, Be Strong, Let Us Be Strengthened – חזק, חזק,להתחזק for the Book of בְּמִדְבַּר – Numbers. This week, we are starting to read the last cycle of the year – the book of Deuteronomy – דְּבָרִים. For me, this is a momentous Shabbat. My younger daughter is leaving to…

  • My Cookbook Collection

    I always say that I am crazy about cookbooks, especially Jewish ones that double as the Jewish food history books. I almost never use the exact recipes though, even for baking, let alone for cooking. I love to experiment with ingredients, always adding and subtracting stuff depending on what I have in my pantry or fridge,…

  • Some Observations

    This was an interesting week for me: challenging, exhilarating, nourishing, disturbing, all at once. Last Sunday, I have started a week long Jewish Professionals Institute at Mechon Hadar. My reasoning was mostly financial – since I wouldn’t be able to afford going to Jerusalem this year to study at Pardes, I decided I would take…