Jewish Treats

The Real Thing

With a bit of creativity, one can easily think of reasons why a person might assume a new identity. Sometimes it is a need for safety, such as those who enter the Witness Protection…

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Jewish Treats

Conquering the Desert

One of the great miracles of the State of Israel has been its ability to transform desert into blooming arable land. In 1867 Mark Twain described the land in one of his memoirs: “The…

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Jewish Treats

Hamantashen History

If you are active on Jewish social media, whether on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other, you have probably been inundated with a thousand and one ways to take hamantashen baking to a…

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Jewish Treats

Chosen To Write: Chaim Potok

In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled with an angel and emerged as Israel, “He who struggles.” In the 20th-21st century, Western Jews spend a great amount of energy wrestling with the world of…

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Jewish Treats

Don’t Be A Boor

Self-improvement trends come and go, but their continuing  popularity underscores people’s general desire to better themselves. It is natural to want to be both liked and respected,…

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Jewish Treats

Chuppah

Nothing symbolizes a Jewish wedding more than a chuppah, which we today call a “wedding canopy.” The chuppah-bridal canopy of today is meant to represent the home of the groom into which…

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Jewish Treats

A Scholar and A Playwright

As the epicenter of the Renaissance, Italy was filled with great centers of learning and creativity during the middle centuries of the last millennium. In one of these great centers of…

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Jewish Treats

Music – This is not your father’s Hava Nagila

Popular Jewish music has become an increasingly diverse market over the last sixty years. What was once limited to cantorial music and klezmer classics has evolved into single artists,…

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Jewish Treats

Writers in a Terrible Place

“The Day of the Imprisoned Writer” (November 15th) was established by PEN International to recognize and provide support for writers who use their skills to fight political repression.…

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Jewish Treats

Tooning Machines

There are not many people whose names appear as a dictionary entry, and even fewer whose names have become adjectives. As of 1966 however, the name “Rube Goldberg” took an official…

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