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How the Radanite Traders Spiced Up Life in Dark-Ages Europe
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…
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IN OTHER WORDS…
Shot Seen ’Round the World: The most enduring image of the 32-month-long intifada is undoubtedly that of Mohammed Al-Dura, the 12-year-old boy who died in his father’s arms during an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in Gaza. The footage of the firefight, shot by a French television cameraman, has become a touchstone…
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Broader Horizons Triumph in ‘Best of Times for Women’
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 Marwell, CBS…
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Rabbi Denies Knowledge of Memorial
The former chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Israel who was said to have authorized a controversial plan to build a memorial at a Nazi extermination camp in Poland is now saying he knows nothing about the plan. The American Jewish Committee and other organizers of the plan have been pointing for months to a letter written…
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DER YIDDISH-VINKL May 30, 2003
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…
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Britain Set To Deliberate Ban On Kosher Slaughter
LONDON — A debate over kosher slaughter in Britain is pitting animal-rights activists against Jewish community leaders, and placing the country’s Jewish and Muslim communities on the same side of the fence. Next month, the British government is expected to consider a report from an animal-rights advisory group that will ask for a ban on…
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Nobody Likes Surprises
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord which he had not commanded them. —Leviticus 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the…
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CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
We can’t tell you what Massachusetts Senator John Kerry said when he addressed Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a group of young Democrats better known as DL21C; the presidential hopeful’s campaign kept the May 20 speech in New York off the record. We can, however, tell you about how the speech was received. Speaking…
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Alternative-Ritual Site Nabs Webby Award Nomination
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…
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Long List of Experts Advising Presidential Hopefuls
A decade ago, when the Democrats set out to reform healthcare, they turned to one person above all others: Ira Magaziner. The New England management consultant, charged in the early 1990s with helping then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton reform the nation’s healthcare system, had a reputation as a genius — at least until his proposals…
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Do-gooders Locking Up One Locksmith’s Market
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…
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Sports First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Holy Ground One of America’s first Jewish farms was nearly lost to history. Now these Brooklyn parents are risking everything to keep their family’s legacy alive.
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Yiddish דראַמאַטישע פּאָעזיע: סוצקעװערס מעשׂיות לעבן אױף אױף דער ייִדישער בינעPoetry in drama: Sutzkever’s stories come alive on the stage
דער װאָקאַבולאַר אין די מעשׂיות ניצט אױס די פּאַליטרע פֿון דער קונסטוועלט, װילנער קאָלאָריט, ייִדישן לעבן און דער אונטערװעלט.
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Culture Waiting on line on Christmas is a time-honored New York tradition — was it ever thus?
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Fast Forward It’s not just a myth that Jews head to Chinese restaurants on Christmas. It’s science.
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