Virginia is for Lovers… of Israel
While cities like Charleston, Philadelphia and New York contained Jewish communities during the pre-revolutionary period, Virginia, the largest of the colonies, did not. Individual Jews…
Batman and the Torah
On May 1st, 1939, the cartoon character, Batman appeared for the first time in Detective Comics, #27. As such, May 1st is known the world over as “Batman Day.” If you Google “bat” and…
Should the Stork Be Kosher?
Kosher consumers, even the most tender of age, learn to seek out kosher symbols of the overseeing kashruth agencies on desired food products. If a product has a symbol of a recognized…
Paying the Pledge
It is easy to pledge money to an organization. There are an astounding number of well-intentioned non-profits that send mailings, or solicit donations over the phone. There are also…
Cooking to America
Lizzie Black Kander, who passed away on July 24, 1940, has been a household name for generations via the simple cookbook she created. The Settlement Cook Book (full title: The Way to a…
Assisting a Runaway
Once upon a time, slavery was an almost universally accepted economic system. Whatever our values and opinions about slavery may be today, slaves were a fact of life in the not nearly so…
Operation Thunderbolt
When Air France Flight 139 left the Tel Aviv airport on the afternoon of June 29, 1976, the passengers and crew could not have imagined the terrifying, yet heroic, events of which they…
The February Strike
February 25th marks the anniversary of the Februaristaking, the 1941 February Strike that took place in the Netherlands. The strike, which was initiated by the Communist Party (banned by…
Shabbat Elevator
In the days when the Talmud was compiled (and certainly in the times of Moses), there were no high rise apartment buildings. Families lived on farms or in small villages, and those who…
The Septuagint
The Talmud (Megillah 9a-b) relates that King Ptolemy II, the Greek king who ruled Egypt, placed 72 Jewish elders into 72 separate rooms and instructed each of them (individually) to…