Welcome to the Forward‘s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
Welcome to the Forward‘s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
Welcome to the Forward‘s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
Welcome to the Forward‘s coverage of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
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)…
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,…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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….
There are many things that make being Orthodox difficult. In fact, if I started a list right now I think I would be busy for hours, compiling all the challenging aspects of following halacha as I understand it. But no matter how frustrating it can be sometimes, no matter how many times a day I…
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