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Why Kitniyot Passover Fight Is Literally Full of Beans
When is a legume not necessarily a legume? When it’s a min kitniyes, might be the Yiddish answer, which could be translated as, “When it’s a whatchamacallit.” And why is that? The week of Passover is a good time to ask. As the more ritually meticulous among you are aware, legumes — which is to…
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Jew-Hating Ku Klux Klan Leader Identified as Overland Park ‘Killer’
The suspect in the Passover Eve killings of three people at two Jewish community centers in the Kansas City area has been identified as a notorious white supremacist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, said suspect Frazier Glenn Cross, Jr., 73, was once the…
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How Jewish Federations Are Changing — and Dumping ‘F-Word’
Denver no longer has a Jewish federation. It still has the federation building, 33 federation workers and a host of programs catering to the needs of the Jewish community, but the word “federation” is gone. As of six months ago, the operation is named JEWISHcolorado, with a subtitle stating, in small fonts, “formerly known as…
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Moses Told Us To Dip Hyssop in Blood. Did He Mean Marjoram?
‘Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Choose lambs for yourselves, for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the…
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Quinoa Is More Kosher Than the Labor Practices That Produce It
When Rabbi Shoshan Ghoori of the Orthodox Union first traveled to La Rinconada, Peru, the world’s highest city, the air was so thin that he needed an oxygen tank just to stay conscious. But the lack of air did not deter him from his peculiar mission: deciding whether quinoa should be kosher for Passover. Over…
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Is Handel’s ‘Messiah’ an Anti-Semitic Screed?
I recall walking through the lobby of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel around 1978, when TVs were blasting the Israeli broadcast premiere of Handel’s “Messiah.” Sung in Hebrew and played by the Israel Philharmonic, this “Messiah” supposedly deleted every mention of Jesus. With or without Jesus, music-loving Jews tend to enjoy “Messiah,” which makes Michael Marissen’s…
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Ron Pundak, Man Behind Oslo, Dies at 59
Ron Pundak, an Israeli historian who helped engineer the Oslo Accords, has died. Pundak, who died Friday of cancer at the age of 59, was an expert on Jordanian and Palestinian history who, through his contacts, began talks with Palestinian leaders in 1992 with the permission of Yossi Beilin, who was deputy foreign minister at…
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Circumcision Studies Give Backing To Supporters of Rite
(JTA) — In the circumcision wars, circumcision has been winning some big battles. A new survey of medical data going back more than two decades has found that the health benefits of circumcision far outweigh the risks. The publication of the article on April 4 by the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings is the latest…
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Onetime Sephardic Towns See Euro Signs in Revival of Lost Jewish Heritage
(JTA) — In the center of the medieval Portuguese town of Medelim, two newlyweds in Sephardic wedding clothes are serenaded by a musical ensemble performing Ladino music. Nearby, several members of the knights Templar march in white capes and chain mail while a harlequin on stilts prances around carrying a pole topped with a Star…
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TSA Plans Extra Care for Passover — Warns Matzo Is Fragile
The Transportation Security Administration said its employees are aware of Jewish needs during Passover and will accommodate requests for delicate handling of religious items. “Our workforce is aware of the unique items carried by individuals and religious practices individuals may engage in while traveling,” said a statement posted April 2. “This may include reading of…
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Polish Museum Director Stresses 1,000-Year Jewish History
Dariusz Stola, the newly appointed director of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, never seems to tire of discussing the groundbreaking institution’s most important mission. The bespectacled history professor, who is not Jewish, says the museum aims to show off the richness of Polish Jewry’s 1,000-year history, not its devastation in the Holocaust….
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