JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
When Mayer Kirshenblatt was a young boy in Opatow, Poland, in the 1920s, a memorable way of celebrating the spring holiday of Shavuos was decorating the home with greenery and original paper cuttings, known as shvueslekh, pronounced in his Polish-Yiddish dialect as shevieslekh. (They were also called reyzelekh or royzelekh, which means little roses.) In…
Jewish women’s use of fashion as a powerful force of resistance is much, much older than a ‘buycott.’ While many feel that how your spending reflects your values is important, we can choose to spend little or no money. We can still make our political views known. In one of the oldest Jewish examples, Yocheved,…
Everything looks better on Etsy — and Hanukkah is no different. From Dr. DreDels to the Menorahsaurus Rex — and Hanukkah’s answer to the traditional ugly Christmas sweater — here’s a roundup of some of the best stuff available. Dr. DreDel SillyReggie — Etsy The Menorahsaurus Rex The Vanilla Studio — Etsy Honest Hanukkah Card JulieAnnArt — Etsy For All…
The Anti-Defamation League accepted an apology from the retailer Hobby Lobby for an employee’s alleged comment that the store “doesn’t cater to you people.” Hobby Lobby was mired in controversy after a blogger reported that the chain neglected to stock Hanukkah items. After calling a New Jersey Hobby Lobby store and inquiring about the Hannukah…
I recently discovered, and promptly became obsessed with, Emily Matchar’s blog New Domesticity. On the blog and in her upcoming book due out next year, Matchar explores the recent-ish explosion of “lost” domestic arts like bread-baking, bee-keeping and serious DIY laundry (handmade washboard, anyone?). I’d been noticing the popularity of this return to the ways…
