Ruth Abusch-Magder is education director and rabbi in residence at the San Francisco-based think tank, Be’chol Lashon.
Ruth Abusch-Magder
By Ruth Abusch-Magder
-
Culture Sharing communal sukkot during the ‘Holiday of Shade’
In the Ethiopian celebration, families join together in a community sukkah
-
Culture Building the very best Sukkah — in Uganda
Rabbinical student from Abayudaya community shares joy of Sukkot in children's book
-
Opinion Why I Tattooed My Arms Just in Time for Rosh Hashanah
The central themes of the High Holiday season — self-reflection, repentance and renewal — are hard to keep in mind for even three days, let alone ten. Try as I might, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur become much like the others, lost in a haze of carpool, deadlines and social obligations. So this…
-
Food Top 10 Israeli Foods to Celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut
Israeli food has come into its own. Like the population, the cuisine is a fusion of influences from around the world, and a generation of young chefs has added sophistication and skill to the mix. But all the innovation and sophistication would fall flat without the building blocks: simple dishes and locally grown seasonal fruits…
-
Food RIP Hostess Brands
Ding Dongs hold a special place in my heart. My best friend growing up in Canada was an American. Whenever her family would travel to New York they would bring numerous boxes of Ring Dings back with them and keep them in the freezer. Sure, there were lots of similar sandwich cakes in the great…
-
Life Why Our Sons Should to Learn to Bake Challah
Debra Nussbaum Cohen recently wrote a wonderful and impassioned post about teaching our daughters to use tefillin. As the mother of a daughter who has indicated interest in wearing tefillin when she reaches Bat Mitzvah age, I was glad to see others thinking about this issue. Yet as important pieces like this are, the challenge…
-
Recipes Two Almond Recipes for Tu B’Shvat
The date palm is tall and majestic. The olive tree locks oil in its plentiful fruit that anoints kings. The bountiful orange trees were the crown jewels of early Zionism. Yet it is the humble almond tree that grabs our attention when we celebrate the new year of the trees, Tu B’Shvat. According to the…
-
Recipes Shabbat Meals: Tower of Babel Menu
Most of the Shabbat dinners at my home are seasonal. Usually this means relying on what I find fresh in the market to inspire the menu that I make. This week however, I’m taking my inspiration from the seasons of the Torah. In the story of Noah, this week’s Torah part, the tale of the…
Most Popular
- 1
Music For Bob Dylan’s biographer, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is a dream come true — even if it’s mostly fiction
- 2
Culture They were a kosher bakery success story — 80 years later, people are still trying to make a buck off their babka
- 3
Culture ‘A Complete Unknown’ proves that one thing about Bob Dylan will certainly endure
- 4
Film & TV Why ‘The Brutalist’ resonated so deeply with me
In Case You Missed It
-
News 18 notable Jews who died in 2024
-
Fast Forward Department of Ed resolves Title VI antisemitism complaints against 5 U of California campuses, U of Cincinnati
-
Theater While Yiddish lives, Isaac Bashevis Singer’s ghost stories may flourish
-
Yiddish World Frankie’s Menorah (a Yiddish Hanukkah story)
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism