Holiday Features
Sweet Shavuot in Saloniki
Special to the IJNMay 28, 2020
By Zack Rothbart, National Library of Israel “Saloniki’s Jews . . . eagerly awaited the arrival of the Shavuot holiday . . . They especially loved and cherished it...
What is a goat (‘Chad Gadya’) doing at the seder?
Special to the IJNApr 08, 2020
By Amit Noar For most modern secular readers not well versed in the enigmatic midrashic style of our Sages, the Passover Haggadah is a rather abstruse text. The decision...
Beijing Haggadah — in Hebrew, English and (some) Chinese
JTAApr 02, 2020
By Alan Grabinsky BEIJING — Unlike Hong Kong or Shanghai, which received Jewish emigrants fleeing from WW II, Beijing does not have a robust Jewish history. In the...
If you are making a seder for the first time…
Special to the IJNMar 26, 2020
By Karen Schwartz, Chabad.org/News With people staying in place to celebrate Passover with immediate family only, in accordance with government guidelines for the...
Denverite authors and illustrates ‘The Jewcy Haggadah’
Larry HankinMar 12, 2020
In 2003, Debbie Foster was a teacher at Stepping Stones . . . to a Jewish Me, a program for interfaith families. When it came time for teaching about Passover,
The tomb of Esther and Mordechai
Special to the IJNMar 12, 2020
By Chen Malul, National Library of Israel In 1968, a vigorous correspondence developed between Jewish representatives in the Iranian parliament and government officials....
Storied Amsterdam menorah gets a makeover
Cnaan Liphshiz, JTAJan 02, 2020
AMSTERDAM — For the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum, Chanukah this year entailed the stressful chore of assembling the world’s most expensive menorah. Last...
How my Bukharian community celebrates Chanukah
JTADec 19, 2019
CHANUKAH 5780 SECTION E PAGE 13 By Manashe Khaimov, JTA/My Jewish Learning When I was growing up in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, all of my relatives and friends lived close...
Recalling a powerful Chanukah heroine, Judith
JTADec 19, 2019
CHANUKAH 5780 SECTION E PAGE 9 By Steph Black, JTA/Alma Chanukah season means latkes, menorahs and the retelling of the classic story about Judah and the Maccabees. But...
Who is the headless Sukkot celebrant?
Special to the IJNOct 17, 2019
By Chen Malul, National Library of Israel In 1661, a book of Jewish customs was published in Amsterdam. Uri Weibash originally wrote Minhagim (“Customs” in Hebrew)...