Ruth Abusch-Magder is education director and rabbi in residence at the San Francisco-based think tank, Be’chol Lashon.
Ruth Abusch-Magder
By Ruth Abusch-Magder
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Culture Why Kings and Animals Lost Their New Years While Trees Keep Celebrating
Growing up on the snow-swept banks of Lake Ontario, I experienced the celebration of Tu B’Shvat as the triumph of hope over reality. The rebirth of vegetation was banished to the dark recesses of a damp bathroom closet, where we would try to get lima beans to sprout. If, by some miracle, the mold did…
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Life Change Our Children Can Believe In
Last week, in an effort to woo my 9-year-old] daughter from the comfort of her bed, I offered to bring her clothes to her. Contrary to her assurances the night before, nothing had been laid out. So I began searching through the array of possibilities. Shirt after shirt came out of the drawer and each…
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News A Hands-On Approach to Torah
San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum is taking a hands-on approach to learning Torah. Literally. Set to open on January 24, the exhibition From Verse to Universe: Reading the People’s Torah provides a unique opportunity for individuals to put their personal stamp on a letter of a Torah for the digital age. Created by New York-based…
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News Challah as Hanukkiah
This year Hanukkah starts and ends on a Friday night. This happy happenstance gives me two opportunities to create one of my favorite holiday treats — the challah hanukkiah, literally a menorah made of challah. For the most part Jews today associate the bread eaten Friday night with the braided form in which it is…
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News Holiday Baking Gets a Makeover
A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking: The 10th Anniversary Edition By Marcy Goldman Whitecap Books 432 pages, $26.95 Last Purim, I was touting my hamantaschen recipe to a friend. After years of searching, I had found one that folded easily, held its shape and actually tasted good. When my friend politely declined my offer to…
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Culture A Prayer of One’s Own
A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book By Aliza Lavie Spiegel & Grau, 448 pages, $35. God speaks to Jewish women as well as to Jewish men. God loves Jewish women as well as God loves Jewish men. From biblical times to the present, there have been prayers that speak to this love, answer this call and…
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