Abigail Pogrebin has become a rare voice among American Jews, as a journalist and an explorer who shares with refreshing wit and candor her path to finding a meaningful Jewish life.
A former producer for 60 Minutes and Charlie Rose, author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,” “One and the Same,” and “Showstopper,” she has her own interview series at The JCC in Manhattan and was a co-author of Newsweek’s annual Top Rabbis list.
Follow her on Twitter @apogrebin
It’s amazing how a slogan that wasn’t hackneyed two weeks ago is already tired: Why is this Passover different from other Passovers? But it’s apt. This is the first Passover in my lifetime that Jews will be forced apart during a holiday that is entirely about being together. This is the first Passover for many…
The artichoke plates were the breaking point. When my mother saw that we had piled them in a section dubbed “GIVE AWAY,” she got very quiet. “Why would I give those up?” she asked, her face taut. “I use them whenever I cook artichokes.” And how often is that? I wondered. Sixteen large artichoke plates…
([JTA](http://www.jta.org ” “JTA”)) — [(JTA](JTA](http://jta.org “(JTA”)) — Purim is a dark story marked by a crazy party. I’m still unsure why a close brush with extermination became, in the Middle Ages, an opportunity for costumes and farce, but there you have it. It’s the fifth century BCE, about a hundred years after the First…
I was very focused on the food, the cold and the crowds. And did I mention a terrorist bomb or crazed shooter? Though I was entirely sure of my philosophical, visceral desire to sign on for the Women’s March in Washington, the notion of hordes amassing in one location triggered every one of my Jewish…
Abigail Pogrebin shares what she learned as part of the cast
“Did it change you?” That’s what people ask me, those who have followed this year of holiday reporting — my first foray into the complete Jewish calendar. The answer is yes. And no. Yes, because I now understand the substructures of every holiday — ancient and modern, mournful and exultant. No, because I’m not rushing…
Baseless hatred. That was the Jews’ sin, which God punished by allowing the Romans to level the Second Temple. On Tisha B’Av Sunday July 26, we mourned the destruction of both Temples. But as I wilted during the 25-hour fast, I was bothered by the notion that the second sanctuary burned because God was angry…
No deodorant in July? That’s asking a lot. But Tisha B’Av demands it. The 25-hour fast to mark the destruction of the two Temples (along with the other catastrophes included in this day of mourning) demands that we abstain from food, sex, leather shoes, studying Torah, greeting people, idle chatter, leisure activities, or “anointing” ourselves….
100% of profits support our journalism
