Saturday, December 9, 2023 -
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Matzo Chronicles

Home sweet home

What does the word “home” mean? I’m not talking about a physical structure but more broadly, about the place you feel content and most at peace. The place where...

Compton, Oh Compton

People of the Book, yes. But which one? Encyclopedia Britannica? World Book?

Grandma’s Kreplach: Calories and memories

Now you may not know what kreplach is. And even if you think you know what it is, you never had kreplach the way my Hungarian grandmother, Ida Kirschen, made it.

Always the bearer of bad news?

I called my 30-year-old son the other day. His first words were, “What’s the matter? What’s wrong now?”

Slow cooker salvation

I’ve transformed into a veritable queen of the crock pot, a savant of the slow cooker.

What’s a brisket-loving mom to do?

I come from a long line of red-meat carnivores. My grandmother made a mean Cornish game hen, but it was her Hungarian goulash and stuffed cabbage (stuffed with ground...

My almost Bat Mitzvah

After 12 years of glittery Christmas trees, but no menorahs, no Shabbat candles and no Friday services, I suddenly got religion. I wanted to become a Bat Mitzvah.

The power of 50 in the Bible and in my life

The number 50 has symbolic and practical significance in Jewish thought. It spans the days between the exodus from Egypt and Shavuot, when the Torah was revealed to us...

No mask . . . what’s that in the mirror?

As mask-wearing mandates end, and I increasingly confront my unexposed face in the mirror, I’m struck with the realization that I’m aging fast — faster, in fact,...

Counting Jews

Forget Mah Jongg. My favorite game is “Counting Members of the Tribe (MOT).”