It’s time for the annual conundrum over kitniyot – legumes – a Passover legacy that has divided Ashkenazi Jews and those of Sephardic-North African origin for generations – and has been the source of vehement debates and no small share of humor. The prohibition against eating leaven on Passover applies to products made from five…
A few weeks before the first Seder, the Orthodox Union announced a new symbol of authorization for Passover products: OU Kitniyot. This has more than culinary significance. It can be seen as a welcome step in diminishing the divisions within the Jewish people. Kitniyot are one of the main dividing lines. Sephardic Jews will consume…
The Orthodox Union wants to take the guesswork out of eating kitniyot on Passover. With no kitniyot kosher certification to go by, eaters of legumes and several grains during the holiday—traditionally Sephardi Jews, but now also others—have had to rely on their own judgment that there was no hametz, or leaven, in a food product….
The Orthodox Union has set a date to pick its next president in highly unusual contested elections. The umbrella group of Modern Orthodox synagogues and organizations, perhaps best known for running the largest kosher certification operation in the world, announced on Jan. 17 its board will convene at the Sheraton Hotel in New York on…
The leadership of the world’s largest provider of kosher certification, the Orthodox Union, is in disarray. Sources on Monday confirmed massive infighting among the O.U. leadership and a slew of managerial changes as members of the board of directors vie for control. The situation at the O.U. was first reported last week in The New…
From the hulking Willamette meteorite to the sparkling Star of India sapphire, visitors to the American Museum of Natural History in New York are used to seeing unusual sights. But museum-goers last year were likely unprepared for the sight — and smell — of Rabbi Chaim Loike, as he walked past the ticket booths carrying…
Weeks before George Washington’s historic letter to the Jewish community goes on display at the National Museum of American Jewish History, President Obama received a copy of the document from a delegation of Orthodox rabbis and communal leaders visiting the White House. The letter, in which President Washington promises America would give “to bigotry no…
While Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto’s fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. this past weekend in Las Vegas was clearly fair (Cotto lost in a unanimous decision), Rabbi Jason Miller is questioning whether it was completely kosher. Actually, the rabbi was concerned not about what went on in the ring, but rather about what Cotto was…
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