by Webmaster | Apr 6, 2016 | Holidays, Identity, Recipes
What is the best way to usher in the Passover season? Not with handwringing and housecleaning, but with celebration, blessing and sweet joy! On Rosh Hodesh, the first day of Nissan, the Jewish month during which we celebrate Passover, Jews from Tunisia and Libya...
by Webmaster | Mar 30, 2016 | Identity
Each year, Jewish children around the world learn the Four Questions. After all the image of the small child chanting their way through the Four Questions is one of the most endearing images of the Passover seder. The image is so strong that for many it automatically...
by Webmaster | Mar 21, 2016 | Identity
And what is a drinking party without drinking songs? As in other Jewish communities, drinking alcohol was part of the celebration of Purim, and an extensive corpus of rhymed, Ladino poems known as koplas (or komplas) developed by Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire....
by Webmaster | Mar 16, 2016 | Holidays, Identity, Recipes
Want the secret recipe to the perfect global Jewish cocktails? Read on. After all, the story of Purim is, in part, a story about “passing” — hiding your identity because it is disadvantageous or even deadly to be who you really are. Esther’s dilemma has always struck...
by Webmaster | Mar 14, 2016 | Holidays, Identity, Recipes
Purim is right around the corner! Among the traditions of the holiday is the exchanging of gifts of food with one another. Many communities exchange mishloach manot (Hebrew: sending of portions). In our Ladino community, I’ve always heard it referred to as Platikos...
by Webmaster | Mar 8, 2016 | Identity
The day was bleak and windy. At best, I figured, there would be maybe six hours of daylight. The clouds above me swirled, preparing to unleash a fresh snowfall as I sat in the warm Synagogue in Oslo, Norway. It was a typical Saturday morning service, but the crowd was...
