Eight hundred and eleven pounds of potatoes, 402 challahs, 68 chefs, 59 people named David and 27 people named Rachel. It all adds up to the world’s largest Shabbat dinner, which was organized by Temple Emanuel’s Streicker Center and held at the Javits Center on Friday night. Some 2,800 Jewish New Yorkers packed the top […]
Continue Reading
A silver Tiffany & Co. menorah from the year 2000. A bronze, 23-inch tall Statue of Liberty menorah made in 1986 in New Jersey by German-born artist Manfred Anson. A silver Hanukkah lamp, inlaid with carnelian stones, that was made in the early 20th century at the Bezalel school in Jerusalem. These are just a […]
Continue Reading
Like most synagogues, Congregation Beth El in South Orange, New Jersey added new rituals after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that killed 1,200 in Israel, saw another 251 taken hostage and launched a grinding war between Israel and Hamas. The Conservative congregation hung a “bring them home now” sign out front on behalf of the […]
Continue Reading
In the two years since the attacks of Oct. 7, the Jewish discourse over the war in Gaza has been agonizing and polarizing. Jews have argued over the Israeli government’s military aims, over what it means to “bring the hostages home,” over the left’s betrayal of its Jewish allies and over the influence of Israel’s […]
Continue Reading
When Liangda Hu first tried doing Daf Yomi, the practice of studying a page of Talmud per day, he struggled to read it. Hu found the language of English Talmud translations uniquely archaic and, as someone who speaks English as a second language, difficult to understand. So he turned to artificial intelligence. Now, Hu uses […]
Continue Reading
Calling all Jews who love to love! Tu B’Av, the Jewish day of love, is upon us once again. Observed every year on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av, this year the holiday begins Friday, Aug. 8 at sunset and continues through sunset the next day. A once-forgotten minor harvest festival that […]
Continue Reading
Journalists I know joke that the only Jewish historian they ever need to call is Jonathan Sarna. Jews and the Civil War? Sarna knows where the bodies are buried. Need a quote about Jews and bagels? Sarna will give you one with everything. The history of American Jewish prayer? Amen. That Sarna is quoted on […]
Continue Reading
In polarizing times, here’s something both sides can agree on: Opponents of Donald Trump’s agenda are struggling to offer any resistance. “Democrats are like hamsters on a wheel, running furiously and going nowhere,” crowed Liz Peek of Fox News. “If Trump’s first Presidency was characterized by widespread revolt, his second term has so far been […]
Continue Reading
A medieval manuscript, believed to be the oldest Jewish book in the world, is now on view in New York City. The Afghan Liturgical Quire, which dates to approximately the year 700 CE, is on display at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library in Morningside Heights as part of an exhibit, “Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest […]
Continue Reading
It’s nearly Purim — this year, the holiday begins on the evening of Thursday, March 13 — and there’s no shortage of family-friendly ways to spend this joyful Jewish holiday, including costume parties, art exhibits, carnivals and playful tellings of the Purim story. But if you’re looking for something a little bit different, you could bring the […]
Continue Reading
