Sometimes the best meals have the smallest price, and here is a great example. I left a fancy steak house in Scottsdale, $200 lighter, and the meal was just so-so. I skipped dessert because I had already set my mind on dessert at the Sugar Bowl to let my taste buds know I still loved…
The holidays are here! Starting with the first night of Hanukkah in November and continuing with more holiday parties through the secular new year, the temptation to eat one delicious dessert after another seems to never end. “To eat or not to eat” is the question. Furthermore, the rules of a kosher kitchen can put…
Born and raised in Mexico City, Dr. Manuel Modiano is at the forefront of new directions in cancer treatment. He calls his decision to specialize in medical oncology and hematology, “One of the best decisions of my life. It’s a great field.” “There’ve been changes in cancer medicine and cancer survival rates,” he says. “The…
A startling family revelation became a life-changing moment for Mesa Rabbi Yosef Garcia. A former altar boy raised in Panama, Garcia always took it for granted he and his family were Catholic. In 1987 an illuminating conversation at a family wedding turned his world upside down. “I was telling my great uncle Chi how amazed…
Sheila Nesis didn’t think about a future as a cantor as she was growing up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Judaism just wasn’t a big part of her family’s life. Her grandparents had some positive influence, but Sheila didn’t even attend religious school as a youngster. She was fully aware that she was part of nearly…
Even as a child, Ariel Trujillo thought it strange that his father would travel long distances to the one store in all of Colombia that carried Manischewitz wine. His father was a civilian attorney and judge attached to the military, and the family moved around quite a bit. But his father would always make certain…
The Brazilian/African rhythms of her birthplace and the classical European melodies of her grandfather’s homeland flow from the keyboard when Michele Adler Cohen sits down at her grand piano. She has a doctorate in piano performance from Indiana University, where she met her mentors – distinguished pianists Michel Block and Arnaldo Cohen – as well…
Over the centuries Latin America has been a sanctuary for Europe’s Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal, pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. Over the tumultuous centuries since Spain discovered the New World, peaceful co-existence and intense anti-Semitism have existed (sometimes simultaneously) throughout Central and South America. While synagogues established…
Consider the following staggering statistic: Since 2008, Ben Bernanke has increased the Fed’s balance sheet from $480 billion to $3.5 trillion, a 730% increase in five years. So what did we get for all of those asset purchases? Predictably, it depends on who you ask. If you ask Wall Street, clearly they’re happy. Since March…
A couple of years ago, at a Herzliya beachside café in Israel, I shared a coffee with NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher. I had interviewed him via Skype earlier in the year for a story, and when I said I was going to be in Israel, he suggested we meet for coffee. During our conversation, he…
