INDEPENDENT Intermarriage is a reality of American Jewish life that isn’t receding, no matter how valiant the efforts to counter
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Hanukkah was really only about one thing when I was growing up. It wasn’t the presents—they were generally small and unexciting... ...
In the story of Hanukkah—the cruel reign of Antiochus, the unlikely victory of Mattathias and his sons, the one cruse of sacred oil left in the plundered Temple that burned for eight days—there is no mention of money. ...
I wanted to tell my father that the fish salad was shining, but he was asleep, calling my name in long somniloquous moans. I stood at his bedside, the shape of our room made visible by the scarce lights of the Marshal Zhukov Street. Slava! My name rose from his ...
What guidance, if any, does Judaism offer to transgender people? ...
From the years 1000 to 1400 CE, a kind of Jerusalem mania captivated much of the world. This fervor drew thousands of people from across the globe to the Holy City... ...
The proverbial liquor cabinet in the collective consciousness of American Jewry contains only a handful of familiar—and unquestionably eccentric, nostalgia-soaked—libations... ...
Myanmar has finally emerged from decades of military dictatorship. But its new democratic government has yet to confront the persecution of the country’s Muslim minority. ...
On March 29, 1516, the Venetian Senate, under the leadership of Doge Leonardo Loredan, decreed that “Jews must all live together” in a guarded and enclosed area of the city... ...
Not all Jewish food is the heavy, hearty fare meant to sustain Eastern European ancestors through dark, cold winters. But Jews, of course, don’t come from just Eastern Europe—many come from hot-weather climates and have a culinary canon that suits the heat. Here are some of the best Jewish foods ...
“To this day I remember, feel, and love this town...I love this town because I grew up in it, was happy, melancholy, and dreamy in it. Passionately and singularly dreamy.” ...
On August 18, 1790, George Washington paid a visit to Newport, Rhode Island, shortly after the state had ratified the United States Constitution, to meet with politicians, businessmen and clergy—including Moses Seixas, an official of Congregation Jeshuat Israel. ...