(Image from Kol Emeth‘s Purim email) Here are a few last minute ideas plus activities around the Bay Area. Is Purim a good “first” Jewish holiday for non-Jewish loved ones? A few favorite Hamentashen recipes My Jewish Learning’s “BEST” hamantaschen recipe looks pretty much like my mother’s Sugar Cookie dough and yes, it’s darn good! Candy hamentashen More…
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My dear friend who is an enthusiastic baker has three favorite hamentashen cookie recipes. Since I can’t readily pick between them I tend to make all three. From my friend’s childhood friend comes: Flo Braker’s Hamantashen Dough 3 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1/4 pound margarine 1 cup sugar 1 large…
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This year Purim begins March 6th. A Purim custom that I have seen consistently observed in the more traditional movements of Judaism is the practice of giving food gifts, Mishloach Manot, to friends and acquaintances. It’s sort of the reverse of Halloween. Instead of getting goodies, you give them. Like any new behavior it can…
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Recently several people got into an argument on my Facebook page. The author of an article I posted described herself using the term “she/her”. One reader immediately dismissed all the author had written and complained about it. Others jumped in scolding the poster for her reaction. No one won. To be “woke” is to be…
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(This first appeared in my Mixed and Matched column in the J-Weekly, Monday June 9, 2021) Dear Dawn: I am Jewish and planning my wedding to a non-Jewish man. I have not been very involved in Judaism since my bat mitzvah almost 20 years ago. I don’t want to have a rabbi, but I want to…
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(Image is from www.noshartfun.com) Please don’t spend time worrying about the non-Jewish holidays you want to get rid of. Focus on making the Jewish holidays robust! Let them fill up your family’s life with warmth, celebration, ritual and good memories. I recently read an article, How to Hanukkahize other Jewish Holidays. In it the author suggests…
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