JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the prominent critic of Islam and women’s rights activist, likened the burqa to a swastika and an Islamic state flag in an interview with Australian television, after she canceled a visit to the country due to security concerns. “The burka that covers the face and that is really very much in your…
No, this isn’t a dementor, or a modern art installation. This isn’t even, as you are more likely to expect, a Muslim woman wearing a burqa. It was on a sweltering hot day, of 80 degree weather, that photographer Yakov Lederman saw this sight in Beit Shemesh — a Jewish woman and her two daughters, a…
Lovers of bourekas, one of Israel’s national foods, had better brush up on their geometry. The Chief Rabbinate has issued new guidelines on the shapes of the pastry pockets — and no, we’re not kidding. Until now, consumers have relied on signage by storeowners or package labels to discern among meat, dairy and pareve bourekas,…
This article first appeared on J. Weekly After my first column appeared last May, in which I asked readers to share their family recipes, the following email from Cynthia Tauber of San Mateo arrived in my inbox: “A ‘boureka’ is my favorite food. Just thinking about bourekas makes my mouth water! And when I make…
While blintzes and cheesecake are the stars of Ashkenazi celebrations of Shavuot, bourekas (flaky, stuffed pastries) figure prominently in Sephardic traditions. They can feature any number of fillings, and in Israel they are commonly found stuffed with mushrooms, potatoes, spinach, or tuna fish. Cheese is another favorite filling, and one that is perfect for the…
Why do fundamentalists always end up wrapping women in shmattes? I ask because, as we’ve seen in Israel’s Beit Shemesh recently, ultra-uber-Orthodox men have been spitting on less-ultra-but-still-Orthodox girls as young as age 8 for wearing clothes that aren’t “modest” enough. The fact that the girls’ outfits seem very modest to most of us just…
For Huda Naccache, Israel’s 2011 representative in the Miss Earth beauty pageant, wearing a bikini is important for career advancement. The 21-year old Christian Arab from Haifa has modeling ambitions, and in order to get noticed, she posed in a bikini for the cover of the Arab Israeli women’s magazine Lilac. This may not sound…
The burqa ban went into effect in France this week, and feminists are torn about what this means for women, religion and freedom. On one hand is the oppressiveness of enforced, excessive female body cover in the name of religion. Islamic custom, not unlike Jewish custom, has historically placed supreme emphasis on covering the female…
