How I hired Jackie Hoffman to be my pandemic celebrity Cyrano
Can’t be at a graduation in person? A birthday? Have I got a Broadway star for you.
This isn’t about the bagel, nor the seltzer man
It was the last time in now two months I’ve bought food from a store. (My dad was in the hospital for two weeks. I could not visit.)
Sitting shiva via Zoom, it turns out, has its upsides
It broke my heart being apart from my sister, and we missed out on all those baked goods, but everything else … was pretty awesome.
Strange But True: How Seltzer Won Israel’s War For Independence
I couldn’t believe it — seltzer bottles being used as bombs in the Israeli War of Independence!
Remembering Bernie De Koven — Sage Of The Gospel Of Play
“The desire to keep the volley in the air — to keep playing and bring along everyone else — those are deeply embedded in Jewish tradition.”
How Games Pioneer Bernie De Koven Taught The Gospel Of Play
“The desire to keep the volley in the air — to keep playing and bring along everyone else — those are deeply embedded in Jewish tradition.”
How A Funny Jewish Game Called Rummikub Became An International Sensation
In the 1970’s Rummikub emerged from nowhere to international stardom. Barry Joseph explains the Jewish origins of the funny Jewish tile game.
Digital Learners Can’t Do It On Own
FALL EDUCATION Digital media helps children pursue their own learning. Now is the time for adults to claim our unique role in the the digital age, writes Barry Joseph.
The Great Egg Cream Debate
There’s something about an egg cream that can bring out the debate in some people.
Making Egg Creams for 111 Years, Even on Passover
David Fox has a problem with his rabbi. I sit across from David, at his office desk, in the family factory H. Fox and Company, deep in Brooklyn. David’s family founded the company and for the past century it has manufacturing a wide variety of flavored syrups. Today, however, I am only interested in one, Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, which is widely regarded as the essential ingredient for the classic egg cream, once described by Mel Brooks as “the opposite of circumcision” as it “pleasurably reaffirms your Jewishness.”