The first spice, according to the Bible, was found in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:12 we are told of the land known as Havilah, “and the gold of that land is pure: Bdellium and onyx stone are there.” Bdellium (it is, in case you’re wondering, the only word in the English language that begins with the letters “bd”) is anRead More
Journalist Ruth Gruber and sex guru Ruth Westheimer — with doctorates, the “two Drs. Ruth” — took center stage at the May 12 women’s luncheon hosted by the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Following greetings by co-chairs Patti Kenner and Ann Oster, museum chairman Robert Morgenthau and director David..Read More
Stanley Siegelman of Great Neck, N.Y., is one of our most faithful readers. He is also a master of the wit and wisdom that distinguishes seykhl from ordinary intelligence. His special genius is Yiddish poetry, usually on current matters with a generous dose of biting commentary. His latest contribution is this piece about Senator Joseph Lieberman,Read More
— NumbersRead More
In the Talmud, there’s no ritual for going on welfare. For having sex for the first time. For recovering from a mastectomy. Or for going to a gay pride march.But today, some people wish to infuse these events with religious and cultural significance. By the thousands, they’ve been turning to the Web site, Ritualwell (www.ritualwell.org), forRead More
A group of young men in our community have started something called “the Chevra,” the mission of which is to perform good deeds 24 hours a day. It is like Hatzolah, but instead of saving people’s lives, they bail people out. Among the good deeds they perform are unlocking people’s car doors and fixing flat tires. The local locksmithRead More
The American Jewish Committee New York Chapter’s April 30 Stanley M. Isaacs Human Relations Award dinner at the New York Hilton — at which Elie Wiesel presented an award to fashion designer Elie Tahari — will be remembered as “The Evening of the Two Elies.” Delighting the 350 guests who helped raise $400,000, the biblically nimble Wiesel…Read More
It’s one of the old, bottomless speculations: Would a humanity that had no God — if we can imagine humanity without the divine to believe, or alternatively disbelieve, in — have come up with a moral code? Without the idea of a heaven, would our human nature have issued itself a set of commandments to obey or, alternatively,Read More
“Mishpokhe Kheyndlekh” are an ongoing feature in the Yiddish Forward. The items refer to humorous bits that are clean enough to be shared with the extended family. What follows are a few examples from recent issues. The transliteration is by Goldie Gold; the translation is by Gus Tyler. Tsvey fraynd zitsn in an eroplan. Bemeshekh funemRead More
Geraldo Rivera has rediscovered his Jewish roots, and he declares the Jews “need” him back. The Jews, apparently, have decidedly mixed feelings about his return.Rivera, 59, the flamboyant TV reporter, announced to The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post in recent days that he is planning to marry television producer Erica Levy, 29,Read More
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