North American Ashkenazi Jews may associate Chanukah celebrations with potato latkes and sufganiyot, but there’s nothing in the Maccabees story that says these are our only options.
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I have so many memories of standing around the kitchen frying up latkes as a kid with my mom and grandma. The smell of latkes filled our house for days, and while she never glanced at the recipe card, my grandma’s latkes were consistently delicious every year.
People ask me how they can spruce up their homes easily and comfortably to give them a feeling of both emotional and physical support during this time of change. Change is key in so much these days and design is no different.
Though the book hasn’t been sealed yet, it’s not hard to write that this past year — 5780 in the Hebrew calendar — has been one of the hardest for so many of us. The year included a significant rise in anti-Semitism, an increase in bigotry in the public sphere, violence in the streets and no…
Welcoming questions is normative within the Jewish tradition. We thrive in an environment that supports inquiry and interpretation. However, welcoming people of all shapes, sizes, orientations, may meet with some reservations. While Judaism wrestles with who is a Jew, Jews and non-Jews are f…
It is no secret. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, individuals and communities worldwide are struggling to come up with creative ways to make the High Holidays meaningful and engaging this year.
Rosh Hashanah brings a freshness and delight as we enter into the new year and the season of autumn. Our menus have transitioned from light salads, summer corn and tomatoes and grilling everything possible to baked goods spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, heartier stews and lots of winter squa…
The smell of brisket cooking in the oven brings me such fond memories of holiday meals in my childhood home here in Arizona. We almost always seemed to have leftovers, but reheated brisket doesn’t taste quite as good as the first night, so it got me thinking about ways we could turn the bris…
It’s that time of year: Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner, and synagogues are adapting to unusual times. Some are streaming services and keeping activities entirely online; others are holding small, socially distanced services in person; a few are offering a mix of online, indoor and o…
This year has been like no other. COVID-19 has changed the way we work and play, who we see and how we see them. At Passover, it brought us Zoom seders. Likewise, High Holiday services will be held on Zoom, too.
Several years ago, I realized hosting lunch on Rosh Hashanah had become routine, something that bothered me.
Rosh Hashanah is the holiday we wish each other happiness, health and peace, and I wish you, “Happy home!” to help you have a healthy and peaceful home.
Be it blasting shofars in parking lots or handing out goody bags filled with prayer and activity books and specialized mints to passing cars, the Jewish community in Greater Phoenix is getting creative in order to maintain a sense of community and continuity during High Holidays challenged b…
Trucks hauling California produce likely would have passed unnoticed by Tim Rosengren if not for the large images of bees painted on their sides. He wondered why trucks would be decorated that way, and after some investigating, he discovered how instrumental bees are to the growing process a…
Nothing brings community together quite like food. With the probability of family and friends being apart this High Holiday season, I wanted to create something that would bring us together in the spirit of the holidays.
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Without cheating: do you know when the first night of Chanukah is this year? Go ahead, take a guess.
"A Chanukah miracle in its own right.”
The Hallmark Channel will premiere its first two Chanukah-themed movies next month in honor of the eight-day Jewish holiday, which this year starts on Dec. 22, the New York Post reported on Wednesday.
As the temperature wanes down into the low 90s for the fall season, residents across Phoenix prepare for Sukkot. The weeklong holiday starts on Oct. 13, and this year there is no shortage of Sukkot events to attend.
Rosh Hashanah falls late on the calendar this year, at the end of the back-to-school month and at the beginning of the first signs of fall. No matter; somehow, there are always those last-minute guests and added recipes that cause a flurry of activity in Jewish households right down to the w…
For the first time in its 14 year history, Mt. Sinai Cemetery had help cleaning its monuments. Members of Congregation Or Tzion volunteered their time and labor in preparation for an important religious service the cemetery will host next month.
A Florida-based program aimed at reconnecting Jewish people to the ocean and empowering them to help keep the sea clean is attracting attention from communities around the United States and even in Israel.
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In the last 12 months, the American Jewish community has faced rising anti-Semitism and two synagogue shootings — one of which left one person dead and the other 11.
As the High Holiday sermons approach, congregations prepare for a large influx of attendants of all levels of observance. But sadly, not everyone is physically capable of attending those services.
The High Holidays are an especially busy time for a rabbi, and it makes the preparation a high-pressure endeavor. Some rabbis prepares for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for several months, if not a year, in advance. But for the five new rabbis who made Phoenix their home this summer, there we…
For Yael Michaely, her husband Boaz, and their three young children, feeling at home in their new country began in earnest one autumn evening in 2004. For these Israelis recently transplanted to Newton, Massachusetts, the neighborhood sukkah hop transformed anonymous streets into a community…
With the holiday of Sukkot beginning at sundown on Sunday, many families and congregations are busy erecting the holiday’s namesake hut — the sukkah. While its form is familiar, what is the deeper meaning of the fragile, temporary structure, and what does it represent? Why is this building d…
The day plays out much the same way every year, around when summer transitions into fall.
So, everyone who’s ever purchased a bundle or three of parsley for Pesach and then still seemed to have a bundle or three of parsley left when the Seders were over, please raise your hand.
While I love Passover, I find breakfast the most challenging meal during the holiday of unleavened bread. Removing foods made with flour and grains from breakfast menus means digging deep into the creative side of my brain.
Even though “stylish” and “traditional” may seem like opposites and mean something different to each of us, the two qualities can actually be combined beautifully and comfortably, especially at Passover.
For a millennia-old religious celebration that has little to do with physical well-being, the Passover holiday offers unexpected health-related opportunities.
Preparing the Seder plate can seem overwhelming, but it needn’t be.
Rumored bagel shortage schmears widespread panic
In keeping with the spirit of Purim, perhaps the most irreverent of Jewish holidays, the Chabad of the East Valley’s CTeen program is going to bake what it is dubbing “America’s Largest Hamantash” on Feb. 27. Though Jewish News was unable to confirm if the hamantashen will be the largest in …
Whether it is bearing fruit, cleaning the air or protecting us from an oppressive sun, the value of trees — and nature itself — has long been recognized by the Jewish people.
The ruins of a 1,500-year-old church and monastery have been unearthed near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in an excavation led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
Two archaeological discoveries with highly symbolic value dating back to the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Israel were revealed just before the start of Chanukah.
Dec. 3-12
Chanukah is here and there are plenty of ways to throw a festive holiday party without breaking the bank or setting your kitchen ablaze.
This propane-fueled menorah was built by Meir Schwabinger.
Every year in cities across the U.S., Chabad holds Chanukah parades featuring vehicles decorated with various kinds of menorahs.
Sunday, Dec. 3
Every year, Chabad of the East Valley has a program to teach children about Sukkot, but this year there’s a new twist.
Chabad of the East Valley has announced plans for its Sukkah Hopping Tour, which invites children and parents to visit four sukkahs throughout the East Valley in order to view and celebrate the different customs and traditions around the holiday and its iconic structure.
The general rule of a break-the-fast meal seems to be simple, relatively light and requiring minimal day-of preparation.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Gesher Disability Resources (formerly the Council For Jews With Special Needs) will be providing sign language interpretation for High Holiday services. Gesher is partnering with Temple Emanuel of Tempe to provide the services.
Coming from a non-observant family of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel, a country where many people tend to lead secular lifestyles to begin with, I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious environment. In fact, I can count on fewer than five fingers the times that I…
