By Lucia Schnitzer We’re just weeks away from experiencing the wonderful Passover festivities with our families and friends. Our limited food options create culinary challenges, but we can still create amazing meals for the seder and for the week. Along with not consuming chametz (leavened bread), many of us do not consume kitniyot, which include…
By Debra Rich Gettleman, December 2014 I got these pink boxing gloves for Hanukkah last year. They were the only gift that really spoke to me. Well, along with the complete set of Dick Van Dyke DVDs. (That’s funny. If you abbreviate Dick Van Dyke, it’s the same as DVD. Hmmm.) Anyway, both gifts were…
By Staff, December 2014 Hanukkah, or dedication in Hebrew, commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem following the triumph of the Maccabees over the Syrians (who had outlawed Judaism) in the second century BCE. The miracle of the Temple’s meager one-day supply of oil lasting for eight until a new supply could be…
After 17 Hanukkahs here, one thing about the way the Festival of Lights is celebrated in Israel never ceases to amaze me: the total absence of Christmas. In the States, Hanukkah’s relation to Christmas is of crucial concern. The more the two holidays overlap, the more that Jews will be celebrating their winter holiday at…
By Lucia Schnitzer, November 2014 It’s difficult to come home after a long exhausting day and ponder “What am I making for dinner?” When I arrive home, I have a checklist of to-dos before lights out. Preplanning my meals and using shortcuts to reduce my time in the kitchen is extremely valuable to my family….
By Staff, October 2014 For the past 25 years Ruach Hamidbar-Spirit of the Desert, the Valley’s Renewal congregation, has built a large community sukkah filled with tapestries, glittery fabrics and thousands of lights. It takes a few weeks to design and execute and is set up in Rabbi Sarah Leah Grafstein ‘s large back yard…
Congregations around the state hold services throughout the high holiday season. Check our online calendar (azjewishlife.com/calendar) for services near you. Erev Rosh Hashanah: Sept. 24 Rosh Hashanah: Sept. 25-26 The Jewish New Year begins at sundown Sept. 24 and continues for the next two days. The holiday celebrates the creation of the world and is…
What’s the most creative thing you’ve done with matzah?” Anat Maimon Modern Hebrew Coordinator at University of Arizona Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, Tucson My family follows an old, sephardic tradition where we crush the matzah, add salt, pepper and egg, form that into flattened balls and fry them in oil. We serve them with…
“That’s not fair! She got more than I did! You love him more than me!” How many times have you heard those words from a small child? How many times have you thought them yourself – even as an adult? We are born with the innate need to alter the things we experience as unjust….
And so it begins. That huge tray of hamantaschen in Costco reminds us of the impending holiday filled with candy, costumes and celebration. But the mere notion of a triangle cookie tends to send many a Jewish woman into a full-blown retreat, running through the stages of grief, starting with denial. Because it’s not the…
