A Recipe for Judaism

A Recipe for Judaism

What makes a fish taste Jewish? For some, the immediate answer will be pickling and a former home in freshwater. For others, the fish must be salmon-colored and, of course, smoked. For others still, Jewish fish is carp—poached, sweet, and served cold. For Jews in...
70 Faces of Shavuot

70 Faces of Shavuot

According to Jewish tradition, the Torah has seventy “faces,” but is still one, unified Torah. On Shavuot, we celebrate the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai with customs that celebrate the gift of Torah, and show the same diverse presentation of a few unifying core...
The Gift of Generations: A Mother’s Song

The Gift of Generations: A Mother’s Song

Mom. Mommy. Ima. Madre. Mother. No matter how many ways I say it, the concept still catches me by surprise sometimes. I am a mother now. Up until 7 months ago when someone would ask me a defining attribute of myself, I would have said I’m a Ladino singer. That’s what...
Samurai Yenta

Samurai Yenta

It’s hard to kvetch about being a Japanese Jew when you’re being spoiled by ladles of chicken schmaltz spoon-fed to you by your father, while your mother asks if you would like some more teriyaki sauce on your beef yakitori. And did I mention my parents arguing about...
Jewish Mother; Universal Mother

Jewish Mother; Universal Mother

I am remembering a Jewish Universal mother. This woman was small in stature yet grand in her effect. A mother of three boys, she was an extraordinarily beautiful, dark-skin Black Jewish woman who left the island of Jamaica in the late 1960s. She had only $5 in her...
Katy Perry Is No Sacha Baron Cohen

Katy Perry Is No Sacha Baron Cohen

So Katy Perry thinks she’s Sacha Baron Cohen, in possession of that subtle talent that turns offense into parody. Problem is, she is missing one very crucial element to her “shtick.” She’s not funny. A video circulating on the interwebs features Ms. Perry dressed up...