Tag: judaism

Embracing a Different Hanukkah

This year, so much about our lives, including how we celebrate holidays, is different, which makes it a perfect time to move beyond potato latkes and embrace some new ideas for delicious Hanukkah eating. 

Life Without Lipstick

And although none of these compare even remotely to the loss of life and living, they inflict a particular kind of pain because they are set against the backdrop of such monumental tragedy. One of those small sorrows is the loss of lipstick—and by this I mean red lipstick because for me, that’s the only kind there is.

A Profound Posthumous Novel from a Very Late Bloomer

Jerusalem as a Second Language, Distelheim’s second novel, is out from Audbade on September 29, 2020 but sadly, Distelheim died on June 1 and didn’t get to savor the praise that is sure to come for her sophomore effort.

Reflections on Sukkot During the Coronavirus

So. I don’t know about you, but I never thought we’d be here. Saying goodbye to Sukkot, the grand festival of rejoicing, the time when we celebrate harvest, honor abundance, and pray for the rains to come. And yet, we are. still. in. this. mess. Last week, I walked the eerily empty streets of Jerusalem.… Read more »

The Struggle of Finding Shelter as an Orthodox Woman

Sukkot is supposed to be the holiday of rejoicing. And yet for me, a particularly difficult time, as a single woman. Usually, it’s the week before Sukkot that I put a call out to ask the internet to help me build a sukkah or find one – and then, sometime during the actual week of… Read more »

Clamor in the Desert: A Shelter for Anyone Who Feels Forlorn

We are living in uncertain times. In Argentina, my home, the flights are almost totally suspended and the feeling of confinement and distance becomes more evident. I am an artist born in this country to Auschwitz survivors. Their story of exile and loss of their homeland, their language, their culture, marked my life and of… Read more »

Stuffed with Abundance and Gratitude

What better way to celebrate the abundance of the harvest than by stuffing vegetables with an abundance of meat, rice, vegetables and fruits! No wonder stuffed foods are a traditional favorite for Sukkot, the festive fall holiday, for Jews from around the world. 

Harbor From the Holocaust: The Jews of Shanghai

By Aileen Jacobson In 1941, Laura Margolis, the American Joint Distribution Committee’s first female field agent, was sent to Shanghai to help the nearly 20,000 Jews who had fled there to escape Nazi Germany’s persecution. In an audacious move, she negotiated with the Japanese officials who controlled Shanghai and was able to secure funds (partly from… Read more »