Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Celebrate The ‘Brangelina’ Of Jewish Holidays

Remember Chrismukkah of 2016, when Christmas fell smack in the middle of Hanukkah? Or Thanksgivukkah, that semi-rare event when Hanukkah happened to fall on that most American of holidays, Thanksgiving? (The last time this happened was 2013.) Now there’s another unicorn of a day. I’m talking about the fact that the barbecue-and-bonfire focused Lag Ba’Omer holiday this year falls on Mother’s Day.

Which presents a problem. Unlike merging the words Thanksgiving (or Christmas) and Hanukkah, Lag Ba’Omer and Mother’s Day are difficult names to combine into a cutesy celebrity-couple-type portmanteau. Attempts to do so yield duds like “Lagther” and “Molag.” I think we can all agree that neither of those works.

What if we were to try this name-merging exercise with the second word of both holidays? Such an attempt would lead to “Ba’day” or “Dayomer.” I mean, this is just getting worse and worse.

Here’s a thought: What about allowing the holidays to keep their double-word phrasing? I think “Lag Day” has a nice ring to it, but it feels a bit meaningless and makes it difficult to determine what the heck we’re referring to. That’s why this holiday shall henceforth be known as “Mother’s Ba’Omer,” because you have a sense of both holidays mashed into one phrase.

So in honor of “Mother’s Ba’Omer,” forget the hackneyed, overdone Mother’s Day brunch. It’s boring, it’s stressful and it’s claustrophobic because of the sheer number of people trying to get a seat at their favorite restaurant. Instead, in reference to the Lag Ba’Omer portion of the holiday, have a Mother’s Day barbecue. It’s fun; it’s intimate and you get to spend the day with your loved ones out in the fresh air.

Here are some barbecue recipes that are perfect for Mother’s Ba’Omer.

Michelle Honig is the food intern of the Forward. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.