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Ruth Abusch-Magder is education director and rabbi in residence at the San Francisco-based think tank, Be’chol Lashon.
Ruth Abusch-Magder is education director and rabbi in residence at the San Francisco-based think tank, Be’chol Lashon.
In the Ethiopian celebration, families join together in a community sukkah
Rabbinical student from Abayudaya community shares joy of Sukkot in children's book
The central themes of the High Holiday season — self-reflection, repentance and renewal — are hard to keep in mind for even three days, let alone ten. Try as I might, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur become much like the others, lost in a haze of carpool, deadlines and social obligations. So this…
Israeli food has come into its own. Like the population, the cuisine is a fusion of influences from around the world, and a generation of young chefs has added sophistication and skill to the mix. But all the innovation and sophistication would fall flat without the building blocks: simple dishes and locally grown seasonal fruits…
Ding Dongs hold a special place in my heart. My best friend growing up in Canada was an American. Whenever her family would travel to New York they would bring numerous boxes of Ring Dings back with them and keep them in the freezer. Sure, there were lots of similar sandwich cakes in the great…
Debra Nussbaum Cohen recently wrote a wonderful and impassioned post about teaching our daughters to use tefillin. As the mother of a daughter who has indicated interest in wearing tefillin when she reaches Bat Mitzvah age, I was glad to see others thinking about this issue. Yet as important pieces like this are, the challenge…
The date palm is tall and majestic. The olive tree locks oil in its plentiful fruit that anoints kings. The bountiful orange trees were the crown jewels of early Zionism. Yet it is the humble almond tree that grabs our attention when we celebrate the new year of the trees, Tu B’Shvat. According to the…
Most of the Shabbat dinners at my home are seasonal. Usually this means relying on what I find fresh in the market to inspire the menu that I make. This week however, I’m taking my inspiration from the seasons of the Torah. In the story of Noah, this week’s Torah part, the tale of the…
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