Thursday, March 28, 2024 -
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Holiday Features

New December dilemma: early Chanukah

CHRISTMAS comes but once a year, on Dec. 25: not Nov. 29, not Dec. 28, but Dec. 25. Chanukah also comes but once a year, on 25 Kislev: not 10 […]

Eight nights

By Dasee Berkowitz, JTA NEW YORK —— When I walked into our local K-mart the night after Labor Day, Christmas music beckoned shoppers to consume. Traditional...

Simchat Torah: Circle dances with the Torah

LOS ANGELES — Want to dance with Jewish tradition but don’t know the steps? Ask Simchat Torah to dance. Not a conventional dancer, it’s a star partner who will drag...

Scoring schach

LOS ANGELES — His 14-foot-long pole saw in hand, Paul Nisenbaum is ready to head out into the great urban forest in a search for schach. The Los Angeles teacher...

The art and skill of shofar-blowing, a mile above sea level

By Sarah Wolberg Sounding the shofar on the High Holidays is a major honor. Shofar sounders at Colorado synagogues practice for weeks before Rosh Hashanah to prepare for...

One man’s journey into the world of keeping kosher

LOS ANGELES — With lots of matzah, boxes of the right flat stuff required for the making of everything, are you kosher for Passover? What about the day after; then...

Passover hotels: $3,000-$5,000 per person

By Jennifer Garfinkel, Tablet NEW YORK —— “Next year in Jerusalem” is, of course, the traditional conclusion of the Passover seder. But “Next year in Aruba” may...

Get creative with Passover’s eggs

By Linda Morel, JTA NEW YORK —— I start Passover food shopping by buying six dozen eggs, but it’s never enough. Inevitably I return to the store at least twice,...

Local lulav: on the rise

It’s October, the leaves are changing, the air is growing nippy and in observance of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the lulav and etrog are falling abundantly from the...

Waiting for return from Afghanistan: ‘The sukkah of peace’

SUKKOT, the third pilgrimage festival in the Jewish calendar, commands all Jews to build temporary structures in commemoration of the Israelites’ 40-year sojourn in the...