Welcome to the Forward‘s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
Shabbat
The Latest
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Fast Forward Has Secular Israel Lost War With Ultra-Orthodox?
Some years ago, Israel Segal, a writer and journalist who was brought up Orthodox and became secular, summed up what he described as a secular defeat. “The all-out war has indeed come to an end, in my view, with the defeat of the secular public,” he wrote. “We are living under an occupation government of…
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Recipes Shabbat Moussaka and My Quest To Become Sephardi
I’ll admit it — I’ve always wanted to be a Sephardi Jew. When the thought of handmade couscous excites you more than the prospect of a Lady Gaga and Rihanna world tour, when you take desperate and unsuccessful measures to work on your tan despite your freckly fare skin and when schug (Yemenite hot sauce)…
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Recipes Mamie’s Moroccan Meatballs and Peas
Every family has that one dish. The one that makes your stomach grumble in anticipation, that brings up childhood memories of crowded Shabbat dinners and cozy one-on-one gabfests with bubbe (or Mamie, as I call my grandmom). In my family, that dish is boulettes aux petits pois (meatballs with green peas). Like any comfort food,…
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News Jerusalem Gets Very Different Kind of Kabbalat Shabbat
The bar is doling out drinks as fast as it can manage. A man at the front recites Kaddish while the mixed-gender congregation slouches, sipping beer, eating snacks, talking on cell phones. It sounds like anarchy to even rabbis with the rowdiest congregations. But here, there’s consensus that this represents a renaissance for the liturgy…
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Life Giving Thanks, For Selfish Reasons
There’s an episode of “House” that Jeremy and I watched recently. In it, a doctor on House’s team is trying to thank him. When he avoids her, she says to him, “Do you know why people pray? Do you think they pray to him and praise him because they want him to know how great…
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Recipes What’s for (Shabbat) Dinner? Spanish Tapas Platters
Last March I visited a good friend studying in Spain. Being early spring, I packed scarves, boots, and jeans for our trip to Valencia. My friend and I arrived at the hostel in a full sweat, annoyed at just how inaccurate the weatherman had been. Tired and hot, I checked out the forlorn hostel kitchen….
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Opinion Texting and the Power of ‘Half Shabbat’
Should observant Jews text on Shabbat — and if not, why not? I personally do not text on Shabbat because I believe doing so violates the prohibition on working on that day. Gershom Gorenberg eloquently expressed the same viewpoint in the Daily Beast’s Open Zion blog. I’m not sure how well this message would resonate…
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Food Longest. Shabbat Table. Ever.
Imagine your regular Shabbat dinner. Now extend the table and summon several more chairs. And a few more. OK, now add about a hundred more seats. Your table is still not likely to be even half the size of the record-setting Shabbat dinner that was recently on display in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak….
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