Laws and Customs of Shavuot

ShavuotLaws and Customs Table of Contents Festival Laws The Book of Ruth Customs Shavuot is a low-key, pensive holiday,…

Passover II 5773-2013

“The Final Days of Passover: A Call For Modesty in Jewish Life” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald The Midrash, in Shemot Rabba 23:5, speaks of a purported conversation between G-d and Israel…

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The Pungency of Peppers

While some people love adding “heat” to everything that they eat, January 22 has been designated as “Hot Sauce Day.” Hot sauce is made by crushing or pureeing raw, cooked, smoked, or…

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The Meal Before

While there are several fast days on the Jewish calendar, only two are referred to as "major fasts": Tisha b'Av and Yom Kippur. They are thus labelled because (1) there is little leeway…

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Making it Kosher

If you have ever researched how to make a kitchen kosher, you might have noticed a lot of references to blowtorches and boiling water. Many items in a kitchen can be made kosher, even if…

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How the Hechsher? Is it Kosher?

In addition to enabling the mass production of dry goods, clothing and automobiles, the industrial revolution allowed for the commercial production and distribution of prepared foods.…

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The Meal Before

While there are several fast days on the Jewish calendar, only two are referred to as "major fasts": Tisha b'Av and Yom Kippur. They are thus labelled because (1) there is little leeway…

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On the Blech

Challah, chicken soup, gefilte fish, kugel, chamin/cholent...the delightful foods associated with Shabbat are seemingly endless. Perhaps they are so delightful because the Shabbat foods…

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Jewish Penicillin

There is an unusual statement in the Talmud (Berachot 44b) about the therapeutic value of particular foods: “Six things provide a permanent cure for illness: cabbage, beets, an extract of…

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Jewish Penicillin

There is an unusual statement in the Talmud (Berachot 44b) about the therapeutic value of particular foods: “Six things provide a permanent cure for illness: cabbage, beets, an extract of…

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