Holiday Features
On Tisha b’Av, feeling the loss from the flames
Edmon J. Rodman, JTAJul 11, 2013
LOS ANGELES On Yom Kippur, we ask Who by fire? Sadly, this year at Tisha bAv we already know who the 19 firefighters who perished in Arizona. This...
Following the ancient Egyptian signs to the Red Sea
Edmon J. Rodman, JTAMar 25, 2013
PASSOVER EDITION SECTION C PAGE 10 LOS ANGELES If the Passover Haggadah seems like hieroglyphics to you, it could be a good thing. Though the Israelites left Egypt...
How Meir Panim helps the poor on Pesach
IJN StaffMar 21, 2013
By Shlomo Stephens PASSOVER EDITION SECTION B PAGE 4 WHILE the ancient Israelites were miraculously able to rid themselves of back-breaking bondage and enter the...
‘Tolkien’ b’Shevat
Edmon J. Rodman, JTAJan 17, 2013
LOS ANGELES What lore does Bilbo Baggins have to share with us about Tu bShvat? While viewing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and hearing the Middle Earth...
Etrog farm
Chavie Lieber, JTASep 27, 2012
SCOTTSDALE Matt Bycer is like any other 33-year-old attorney who wakes up at the crack of dawn to exercise. Except that rather than sweating to a P90X regimen, Bycer,...
Chanukah: The holiday of Jewish identity and integrity becomes very public
Edmon J. Rodman, JTADec 22, 2011
LOS ANGELES It doesnt get more only in America than this: A Christian president with an African-born Muslim father throws a Chanukah party at the White House,...
Consuming 100 sufganiyot — for charity
Andrea JacobsDec 01, 2011
IN 2009, Elie Klein placed a gentlemans wager with two neighbors in Bet Shemesh, Israel, to see how many sufganiyot (deep fried, jelly-filled donuts) they could...
Should my sukkah have a debt ceiling?
Edmon J. Rodman, JTAOct 06, 2011
LOS ANGELES Each Sukkot we read in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, that there is a time to tear down, and a time to build up. For my sukkah it was time […]
In the spirit of the Mishnah…freeing up the seder
JTAApr 14, 2011
By David Arnow, JTA SCARSDALE, NY — You can find the secret to creating lively Passover seders in a surprising place the 1,800-year-old law code, the Mishnah....
Baking your own matzah
Edmon J. Rodman, JTAApr 14, 2011
LOS ANGELES In every generation, the Haggadah tells us, the wise, the simple, the non-askers and even the baddies are obligated to see themselves as though they...