(JTA) — When Meredith Jacobs was taught the Purim story as a little girl in the 1970s and ’80s, Esther was made out to be its heroine, while Queen Vashti was its “evil queen.” According to the Book of Esther, Vashti was banished by her husband, the Persian King Ahasuerus, for refusing his order to…
If you are like me, you keep seeing the products in the stores and promotions for Megillah readings and carnivals. You turn around and realize that Purim is just around the corner and you have packages, menus and costumes to prepare, and not enough time to get everything done! Below are some no-fail solutions to…
If you’ve been getting ready for Purim by obsessively baking varieties of these triangular cookies (may I advise avoiding the chocolate chips and using fresh, tart raspberry jam instead) — you might be wondering exactly how they came to be such iconographic representations of Judaism. Worry not, because you’re about to find out. If you…
God is missing from the Purim megillah. This is disturbing and adds to the moral void in which the story takes place. Esther’s very name comes from the Hebrew nistar, which means “hidden.” There is much about Esther which is hidden — her ambiguous relationship with Mordechai, her Jewish heritage, her deception of the king….
Inspired by the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, the new campaign #ShareHerStory shares the stories of modern Jewish women of color who are working to create a more inclusive and thriving Jewish community in various ways. As the name sounds, #ShareHerStory shares individual stories of powerful Jewish leaders in short, easy-to-read vignettes as a way…
Just to be clear — it was not a hate crime. Nevertheless, the deed was truly hateful. On Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at approximately 2:30 pm, I was the victim of an armed robbery and carjacking in my school parking lot. That day, like most high school seniors, my mind was on how to pull…
Editorial Well, we had a great run there. It was probably too good to last forever – downright ahistorical, when you come right down to it. But someday in the future, as we huddle together for safety, we’ll tell our children tales of that brief shining moment when we Jews were white. I like to…
The 2,500 attendees of the 2018 Kosher Food and Wine Experience in New York City collectively guzzled more than 1,000 bottles of wine over the course of an afternoon and evening. While I didn’t personally sample quite that many, I made it my mission to discover the best-of-the-best and underrated wines in order to help…
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