Add pomegranate to your Thanksgiving menu

By April N. Baskin I still remember the taste of the fresh cup of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice I bought from old Chasid pushing a tiny wooden cart on a chilly day in Tzfat last winter. I love the tangy flavor of fresh pomegranate and with it being the pomegranate season, there are endless opportunities to indulge. In our September/October issue, cookbook author Joan Nathan explored the rich history of the ever-appealing pomegranate, taking special note of its presence in Persian cuisine as well as her family’s favorite ways of enjoying the treasured fruit: “I remember my children’s delight when a Persian family taught us the technique of drinking the juice straight from the hard shell. They rolled a pomegranate along a countertop until all the crunchy sounds stopped, then pierced it with a skewer, inserted a straw...

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This Week's Links

Brad Pitt is not Jewish, but he is an actor, so he'll have to pretend. He signed on with Quentin Tarantino to play a leader of a group of Jews exacting revenge on Nazis in "The Inglorious Bastards." According to Jewish law, if you smoke you may be Posul l'Eidus—invalid witness. A deluxe kosher grocery store, Pomegranate, has opened in Brooklyn... ...And at least one person sees it as a "bombastic monument to excess and conspicuous consumption." The Great Isiah Scroll is on display at the Israel Museum, where anyone who knows Hebrew can read "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" off the 2,100 year-old scroll for themselves. "Someone with true faith turns to God not only when he is in the house of prayer, but...

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