Keeping Kosher
A new story by MJ Popplewell. Joseph struggled upstairs and into the apartment with his bags. He laid them on the kitchen table and took out a selection of pans: small for milk, medium for vegetables and a large one for meat. He had also bought some cutlery: knives, forks, spoons and so forth, and […]
Pop Jews Rocking On
David Drimer explores the relationship between Jews, pop and rock ‘n’ roll. We’re endlessly amused by the essentially semitic game “Who’s the Jew?” In my house, we fervently celebrate the Jewish identity of celebrities, athletes, artists and writers or historical figures famous or obscure, and bitterly lament the transgressions of Jewish bad actors (see Madoff, […]
A Time To Mourn…
Barbara Borts reflects on the importance of Yom HaShoah. As a progressive Jew from an earlier time, I hadn’t learned about Tisha B’av, the fast of the 9th of Av. When I began my rabbinical studies, and later my congregational work, Tisha B’Av was beginning to be marked in progressive Jewish circles, mostly as the […]
The Unloved Grandson in Beloved Kiev
Alex Gordon THE UNLOVED GRANDSON IN BELOVED KIEV At school in Kiev I had absolutely no ability to write compositions in Russian with their introduction, main part, and conclusion. I got a “C” on my school-leaving certificate in Russian literature because of an unsuccessful composition I wrote on my final exam. This was not […]
Yom HaSHoah 2022: The Story of George Garai
As Yom HaShoah looms, the hidden story of a journalist, told by his granddaughter, reaffirms the importance of giving young people a voice in Holocaust education
Dating the Exodus
Annette Duckworth asks how did two different dates arise. In 1822, Jean-Francois Champollion, the French Egyptologist and linguist achieved his first true breakthrough in the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics, with the decipherment of the two Pharaonic names, ‘Ramesses’ and ‘Thutmose’. This must have caused great excitement throughout the world of biblical scholarship because the Bible […]
When Passover Ends
Passover ended last night but this morning there’s still a lump of matzah in my stomach and the taste of dry matzah crumbs on my lips It’s like when I leave the beach and come home to find grains of sand stuck between my toes and dried salt from the sea on my legs You […]
The day before Passover
It’s the day before Passover and we’re preparing to flee Egypt again to leave behind all the tasks we never got around to doing to bid goodbye to old habits and routines that won’t take us anywhere but back to where we started to say farewell to the people who enslaved us and treated us […]
Pour Out Your Rage
Ruben Vis reflects on a key passage in the Haggadah. If the word Seder means order, then every piece in the Haggada must be in its correct place. Why, then, immediately after the meal, do we read a passage that seems out of place and why is it even there in the first place? It […]
A Weekend of Yiddish
Myra Woolfson kvetches about the joys of planning a Jewish-themed event. This summer, some 50 to 60 Yiddishists will spend a happy weekend in a former stately home in the heart of Yorkshire. Everything will be in Yiddish – meals, coffee breaks, talks, walks, learned discussion and gossip. There will be opportunities to hear poetry […]