Why was the night of April 4 different from all other nights in Tel Aviv? Because the illegal immigrants who ordinarily collect the city’s trash, wash dishes in its restaurants, and clean floors in its hotels, sat as Israelis served them dinner. For Africans who have come to Israel — some 50,000 since 2005 —…
President Obama is looking forward to “a good bowl of matzo ball soup,” at the fourth annual White House Seder on Friday. Obama sent out his Passover greeting on Thursday, in which he speaks not only about his love for Passover dishes, but also on the meaning of the exodus story and the search for…
During the Seder, some Jews have the custom of going around the table and imagining themselves as Hebrew slaves in Egypt during the Exodus. They describe their respective slave jobs — bricklayer, house slave, mortar mixer — and how they feel about their impending freedom. The game illuminates the Seder’s insistence that had God not…
Bo – Go In Exodus 10:1–13:16 This week the story of the Exodus reaches its climax. The last plagues come down on Pharaoh and his house. The gates of Egypt are thrown open wide and “my people go.” Thus the Middle Eastern drama of days gone by, whose echoes still spark the imaginations and shape…
This year’s Man Booker Prize shortlist featured two authors who write about groups not often represented in British literature. Howard Jacobson, author of “The Finkler Question,” has made a career crafting a literary image of the English Jew, while Andrea Levy, shortlisted for “The Long Song,” has documented the black British experience in her five…
Inquiring readers have a treat waiting for them in the current issue of The Jewish Press, the Brooklyn-based weekly that’s hands-down the most widely read Jewish periodical in the Orthodox community. I’m speaking of a front-page article defending the cause of the Confederacy and attacking Abraham Lincoln as a bigot. No, I’m not kidding. Read…
Well, Virginia Governor Robert “Bob” McDonnell abjectly apologized today for declaring April to be Confederate History Month and neglecting to mention slavery. He issued a five-paragraph statement admitting “a major omission” in a proclamation that was somehow “issued by this Office.” Ah, the passive voice: God’s gift to politicians caught with their pants down. “The…
Virginia’s Republican Governor Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell, not the sort to be outdone by a Democratic White House Passover seder, has raised the bar on honoring the Jewish festival of freedom: He’s declared the entire month of April to be “Confederate History Month.” Of course I’m kidding. Actually, the governor’s Confederate heritage proclamation doesn’t have…
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