RJ Blog

I recently had occasion to extract from my bookshelf a well-used and falling apart 1977 paperback edition of Elie Weisel’s Messengers of God.  The book was inscribed as a holiday gift to the teachers of the religious school where my wife has been teaching for decades (not the congregation to which we belong). Then, as it happened, this past Sunday was Teacher Appreciation Day and following lunch (kosher barbecue, with a vegetarian option), each teacher received as a gift a hardbound, beautifully crafted book (list price  $29.95), Kosher Revolution: New Techniques and Great Recipes for Unlimited Kosher Cooking, by Geila [...]

Religious leaders have long known that if you want to attract worshipers and increase your membership rolls, food can be a valuable tool. Christian services are often followed by coffee hours, and for Jews, Sabbath worship – on Friday night or Saturday morning – is generally followed by a Kiddush. For some in the Jewish world, the Kiddush has become an elaborate feast at which sumptuous food and fine wines and liquors are offered to those, both members and guests, who come to pray. This new phenomenon, healthy in some ways and deeply unsettling in others, was described in a [...]

by Nancy J. Apfel Today’s foodie culture has brought with it a growing interest in eating habits and cookbooks. A recent New York Times list of bestsellers in the Advice and Miscellaneous category included 11 books about nutrition and cooking in the top 15 sellers. Food blogs and reality cooking shows have a wide following. It should come as no surprise that WRJ and local Sisterhoods were ahead of the times. They have been compiling cookbooks for more than a century and assembling a collection since the since the 1990’s.

by Rabbi Ron Symons Well aware that the “give me” attitude can be pervasive during the Hanukkah season, Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh has developed an annual tradition of turning “give me” into “give you.” Our goal is to provide a vehicle through which every single person who wants to give, no matter the size of his or her gift, can do so. Modeled on the sacred individual gifts of the Israelites when we built the desert tabernacle, modeled on the heroic individual contributions of Maccabees to the war effort, our “World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah Made Out Of…” project allows each [...]

by Rabbi Ira Youdavin My plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport last Wednesday evening, four days before I would be joining the Jewish Council for Public Affairs National Leadership Mission, and 72 hours before the first night of Hanukkah. The early arrival was different from my usual pattern. Normally, I speed from the airport to some meeting, with a quick meal, shower and sometimes a few hours of sleep squeezed in. On this trip, I wanted to spend some quality time with friends in Jerusalem and also in Tel Aviv, a city I visit only infrequently. That whirlwind would begin [...]

by Rabbi Mary L. Zamore Many people mistakenly believe that keeping kosher is linked to healthy eating. Clearly, these people have never experienced highly processed, fat-filled delights like kosher chicken nuggets or Bamba. Yet, throughout history, scholars have tried to rationalize the totality of the laws of kashrut (kosher) by connecting them to health. There have been theories from Philo of Alexandria (early 1st century C.E.) and Maimonides (late 12th century C.E.) who both spoke of kashrut as teaching us to master our appetites, for food and other things; to Rashbam (12th century) who also associated health with kashrut; to [...]

Every woman on my mother’s side of the family has died from breast cancer. Each one did everything “right” – yearly mammograms, self and physician check-ups, and, upon diagnosis, the “best doctors,” “best hospitals” and most up-to-date treatments – all to little or no avail. Although my family and I have not been tested, the likelihood is that they carried – and I inherited – the BRCA gene mutation, which means I have a significant risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. What, then, am I to do to increases my chances of never getting breast cancer?

As a child, one of my favorite holiday songs was sung during Sukkot. “Apples are delicious, they are so nutritious, you don’t have to wash any dishes, sing a Sukkah song!” This complex arrangement was sung (and not very well) for the entirety of the holiday.

Boil eggs Peel eggs Place eggs in vessel Add mayo and Dijon mustard until right Salt, pepper, and paprika, to taste Paprika on top for color For years, this simple recipe dominated our pre-Yom Kippur preparation. Since I left the URJ a few years ago to move into the private sector, my wife Abby and I have hosted break-the-fast for our Jewish friends who were stuck far away from family on the holiday. It started small, with about 10 people (a dozen eggs) we collected at services who had no where to go, and it ballooned to about 35 people [...]

Though Yom Kippur is a fasting holiday – a day during which we abstain from eating, drinking, and even brushing our teeth or using perfumes – Jewish tradition recognizes that fasting is not a safe practice for all Jews. For this reason, children under the age of 13 and individuals who are pregnant or ill are not required to fast in Yom Kippur. For those who fall into this category, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services provides a special meditation to recite instead, written by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub.

Throughout the year, the challot we eat on Shabbat are braided. On Rosh HaShanah, though, we eat rounded challah that’s slightly sweeter than usual. Tina Wasserman, the Reform Movement’s chef in residence, teaches you how to make a round challah in the easy video tutorial below. For a more in-depth how-to, check out Tina’s recipe for round challah, complete with tips on how to give your dough a golden color (turmeric and saffron!) and how to cut your challah so that it doesn’t become a matted blob. Bon appétit and shana tova umetukah!

Food is an integral part of Judaism both culturally and religiously- and it’s an integral part of Camp Coleman! We’ve had several requests for the recipes from the Tarbut class (cultural elective) Jewish Cooking so you can take a piece of camp home with you.

by Hilda R. Glazer This week’s Torah portion includes the story of sending the scouts to Canaan and a number of laws about sacrifices and communal and individual wrongs. One of the things that I often wondered about was the origin of the challah. In this week’s portion is the answer. One of the offerings listed in Numbers 15 is that of the first dough – the challah. “The Women’s Torah Commentary” (p. 882) noted that the word challah is Hebrew for loaf and was derived from the verbal root ch-w-l, “to be round.”

The URJ recently announced our 2012 Incubator Grant recipients, which help our congregations implement new programs to further engage current members and attract new members. We’re also thrilled to follow up on the good work of one of our 2011 Incubator Grant recipients, Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland, ME, which has documented its program Sowing Seeds, Braiding Community in a short documentary available on the synagogue’s website.