Like many American Jews I know — and like almost all New Yorkers — I find Christmas in Manhattan deeply evocative. I like the smell of Christmas trees and candied nuts, and I like the way Central Park twinkles, and I like the red-and-white holiday markets that pop up like sukkahs all around the city….
Joshua Eli Plaut, PhD, is the full-time Executive Director of American Friends of Rabin Medical, as well as the Rabbi of the Metropolitan Synagogue in Manhattan. His most recent book, “A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to be Jewish,” is now available. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish…
Living in a home where one parent is Russian and the other American creates an unpredictable cultural, political and religious dynamic. Every year, it is the December holiday season that creates somewhat of a clash. My father, an émigré from the former Soviet Union, has had instilled in him the secular Russian tradition of having…
Crossposted from Haaretz “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism” says the sign that currently greets visitors to Bethlehem. It is a bit ironic, given its location next to checkpoints manned by armed soldiers wearing bulletproof vests. How does one deal with such a siege? With a sense of humor:…
As a person of Chinese and Jewish heritage, I have inherited two wonderful, though often divergent culinary traditions. My favorite moment in our kitchen is when the two traditions converge on Christmas Eve at our annual Dumplings of the World Festival. We gather with family friends to make steamed barbecue chicken buns, potstickers, samosas, empanadas…
A popular Italian saying advises: “Dress like a Turk, and eat like a Jew.” Jews have enjoyed an uninterrupted presence in Italy for more than 2,200 years, producing a delicious cuisine with almost endless regional variations, that profoundly affected broader Italian cuisine. Contrary to the all-too-common American assumption that most Jewish food is bland or…
The Last Testament: A Memoir by God (with David Javerbaum) By David Javerbaum 381 pages, Simon and Schuster, $23.99 The Final Testament of the Holy Bible By James Frey 398 pages, Gagosian, $50 You can find divine justification for just about anything. One preacher declares that God wants us to be “loving and compassionate,” but…
I’m a cynical Jew with goyish tendencies. With unabashed intemperance, I hedonistically succumb to bacon wrapped shrimp, afternoon noshes on Yom Kippur, unleavened naan bread rather than (the cardboard better known as) matzo on Pesach, and perhaps a Cadbury Easter cream egg or two during Lent. I’ve got no tsimmis in my intestines and no…
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