It’s difficult today to look at the orange-and-black paper scenery behind toddlers in ghost costumes and imagine just how disturbing Halloween was a century ago. For the Jewish community — coming from Europe — the devilish practices of Halloween were not only bewildering but also threatening. Yes, we could come to terms with people walking…
It’s fitting that the AIPAC Policy Conference, which convened this week in Washington, D.C., falls every year at around the same time as the holiday of Purim. Because the two have a lot in common. On Purim, Jews read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of a Jew who unexpectedly gains influence with…
When we read the Book of Esther to celebrate Purim, many Jews see it as a classic Jewish story: “they tried to kill us. We won. Lets eat!” The book of Esther does contain a typical story of Jewish victimhood and Jewish survival: Haman tried to kill the Jews, but then Esther and Mordechai rose…
An Orthodox streimel hat made of popcorn seems to have popped up (apologies) as one of the most popular (sorry) costumes in Haredi Israel this Purim. A day after Israeli journalist Sam Sokol published a photo of an Orthodox man in a study hall wearing the classic wheel shaped hat but filled with popcorn, he…
Midway into my first batch, as the rolling pin clumsily turned my dough into something resembling a map of Africa after a multi-year drought, I wondered what I could have possibly been thinking when I agreed to this assignment. This was my first attempt at baking hamantaschen, the triangular-shaped cookies we eat especially at Purim,…
Not since Hillary Clinton’s infamous cookie-making comment on “60 Minutes” in 1992 (“I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies…”) has the act of baking been so politicized — until now. This weekend, Ivanka Trump posted an image of herself on Instagram in which she’s seen making hamantaschen with two of her children….
An ultra-Orthodox Purim reveller has what might be our favorite costume this year for its sheer snackability. It’s a popcorn streimel. The streimel is a wheel-shaped hat typically worn by married ultra-Orthodox men. The hat is usually covered in marten or fox fur, but this guy filled his with popcorn. Israel Broadcasting Authority journalist Sam…
Right-wing preacher Lance Wallnau is calling on his followers to engage in a Purim fast for President Trump this Purim — against the, media, progressives and the “sabotaging, sniping and snarling” forces that Wallnau sees as aligned against the president. Like Esther, the heroine of the Purim tale, Wallnau hopes that Trump can turn the…
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