The Afikomen (אֲפִיקוֹמָן‎) is the broken piece of matzah that is hidden during the Passover Seder and then sought out by the youngest members of the seder table. The word Afikomen comes from the Greeek epikomion [ἐπικώμιον], meaning…(more)

Amtlai is the little known, entirely ignored, actually written-out-of-the-bible actual Mother of Abraham. There is so little known (or asked) about Amtlai that a cursory Google search will confirm her invisibility…(more)

Ashteedak is a Jewish-Iraqi appreciation given to the head cook of the house when a meal is enjoyed by a guest – literally meaning “bless your hands.”

B’ed T’Bit is an Iraqi-Jewish favorite: Hard boiled eggs dyed brown with onion skin that are eaten on Shabbat mornings with the T’bit and thinly sliced grilled eggplant, white cheese and Amba, with or in a pita (Sabich).

Bagels are sufficiently ubiquitous to make physical description unnecessary, but let’s do it anyway: They are round rolls, made of flour, yeast salt and water. They can be topped with salt, poppy or sesame seeds, or infused with things like onions or (heaven help us) blueberries…(more)

Historically, a boy reaching the age of 13 or a girl reaching the age of 12, becomes a bar or bat mitzvah, respectively. The words mean “subject to the commandments,” the spirit of which implies that the person is no longer a child in the eyes of Jewish law, but rather an adult…(more)

The word bema refers to the raised part of a podium or an elevated platform typically in a synagogue.  It is also used as the altar part or sanctuary in Orthodox churches, as well as the platform where public speakers addressed the citizens and courts of law in ancient Athens…(more)

(Amharic for “The House of Israel”) is the historic name for the Ethiopian Jewish community. According to oral tradition, Beta Israel traces its founding to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba…(more)

Bukharan Jews (also known as Bukharim) constitute one of the oldest ethno-religious Jewish groups in Central Asia, with current major populations in the U.S. and Israel, as well as smaller communities in Russia, Germany and Austria. Bukharim hail from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, with the majority from Uzbek cities such as Bukhara (an ancient Silk Road city), Tashkent and Samarkand, as well Dushanbe (capital of Tajikistan) and Bishkek (capital of Kyrgyzstan). Central Asia’s largest Jewish settlement during the Middle Ages happened to the Emirate of Bukhara (present-day Uzbekistan). Bukharim believe they are descended from the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel (Jews who, under Assyrian Captivity, were exiled in the seventh-century BCE).

Challah has a glossy sheen, and a soft, almost cakey texture, thanks to a significant amount of oil and eggs in the dough, which makes it particularly easy to shape and bake.  Aside from serving as a sacramental bread on the sabbath and other holidays, challah is the ideal foil for toppings and sandwiches…(more)

Chutzpah (n., חוצפּה, from Yiddish, Khutspe/Khitspe, derived from Mishnaic Hebrew, Hutspah, for insolence): nerve, cheek, gall, unmitigated audacity. In short, a brazen attempt to get something you don’t deserve…(more)

The process of converting to Judaism is, like so much else in the tradition, a high-low mix of deep spiritual work and rote, legalistic box-checking. Converting can feel like preparing for a DMV exam, or like a bad day at the dentist, or like the best grad school seminar ever, or like a transcendent…(more)

Though Cholent is known as one of the most famous slow-cooked Shabbat recipes, many non-Ashkenazi communities have had their own overnight-cooked Shabbat staples for centuries. 

“Dayenu” is a song that is recited during the Passover seder In Hebrew, “Dayenu” means, “It would have been enough,” and the song thanks God for miracles performed during the Exodus, including taking the Jews out of Egypt, providing for the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years, and giving the Jewish people Shabbat and the Torah. Over one thousand years old, “Dayenu” is found in the first medieval Haggadah, or Passover text, of the Seder Rav Avram (ninth century). Jews sing Daneyu during the Passover seder immediately before explaining the meaning of Passover, matzah (unleavened bread) and maror (bitter herbs). 

Short form of the German word delicatessen, which basically means “delicious things to eat”.  In Ashkenazi-Yiddish culture, it was a store and a category of cuisine where cured, preserved, and smoked meats were prepared and sold. Often these were kosher versions of local, non-kosher specialties, made with beef, lamb, goose, or…(more)

Elijah (אֵלִיָּהוּ‎) was a prophet and miracle worker born around 900 BCE and died in Jericho in 849 BCE. His name is most associated with being invited in to Passover seder’s the world over with the fifth, ceremonial cup of wine…(more)

Elul is one of the most spiritual periods of the year for Jewish communities across the world. Coming just before the Jewish New Year and major holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah, Elul is an important month of introspection and self-evaluation, when Jews practice cheshbon ha’nefesh, an “accounting of the spirit,” by reflecting on the past year. This process of deep introspection is an important annual ritual of sincere repentance and atonement, both pivotal themes underpinning Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar is blown daily as an awakening to repent.

What is Gefilte fish? In Yiddish it means “filled” or “stuffed.” But in the 50’s when food began to be mechanized this Eastern European delicacy transformed into the ball that families are more familiar with today.  It is typically prepared either sweet or savory and made of deboned and ground carp, white fish, mullet and pike mixed together with egg and bread crumbs. Native to Ashkenazi Jews…(more)

Hanukkah, Chanukah,  (חֲנֻכָּה‎ or חֲנוּכָּה‎) or Hanukka in Yiddish, is an eight-day Jewish festival that celebrates the recovery of the Second Temple by the Jews of Judea, also known as the Maccabees. Led by Judah, this group of scrappy Jewish rebels rose up against the oppressive King Antiochus IV…(more)

Judeo Arabic or “Haki Mal Yehud” is a dialect of Arabic spoken within the Iraqi-Jewish community of Baghdad and Basra (see cultural theorist, Ella Shohat’s unpacking of the term Judeo-Arabic). Jews would speak in a slightly different manner from the Muslims, whose Arabic was referred to as “Haki Mal Aslam,” but in public arenas and in school, they would adopt Classical Arabic. It is important to note that the greater differences in language in Iraq were mostly regional; for instance Mosul vis Baghdad and so on. A Mosul Jew might likely be Kurdish and so would speak in yet another dialect.

While most Jews (and a growing number of non-Jews) know about challah, the braided Shabbat bread whose origins date back to Germany and have been embraced by many Ashkenazi Jews worldwide, most people are unfamiliar with various Sephardic and Mizrahi Shabbat breads that have also been prepared for centuries in communities ranging from North Africa to the Middle East. Kubaneh is a traditional Yemenite Jewish bread that many Yemenite Jews and their descendants, particularly those in Israel, still prepare weekly. One of the most famous Shabbat breads in Israel, kubaneh is a pull-apart bread that is baked overnight and served Shabbat morning with other traditional Yemenite foods.

Kuku Sabzi is a Persian dish made of eggs, fresh herbs, and spices, that is baked and served at room temperature.  Kuku Sabzi is typically served during the Persian New Year Norwuz. 

Maimonides, also known as Moses ben Maimon (most commonly referred to by the acronym, Rambam), was a twelfth-century medieval Sephardic Torah scholar and one of the most important and prolific Jewish philosophers in history, whose body of work is still studied throughout the world today. One of the most important authorities (known in Hebrew as a “posek”) in Jewish history, Jews still refer to the Rambam’s rulings on various issues related to “halacha,” or Jewish law. His Mishnei Torah, a fourteen-volume code which codified halacha, is considered among the greatest studies of Jewish religious law to date. The Guide for the Perplexed (1190) originally written in Arabic, which married Jewish theology with Aristotelian philosophy, is also among Rambam’s most legendary written works. In commenting on the Mishnah (the Oral Torah), Rambam created his famous “13 Principles of Faith,” in God. Among the most cited of his legal formulations is his stance on justice and execution, in which he famously wrote, “It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.”

Malawach is a buttery, flaky flatbread  thatYemenite Jews brought this recipe to Israel in the 1950’s. 

Traditionally eaten over the Passover holiday, Matzah (מַצָּה‎) or Matzo is an unleavened bread filled with symbolism. In biblical times of the Exodus from Egypt when the Israelites did not have enough time for their bread to rise. Matzo is considered lechem oni, “poor man’s bread”…(more)

Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the 14th of the Jewish month of Adar that commemorates the defeat of a genocidal plot against the Jews in ancient Persia during the Achaemenid Empire. Recorded in the 4th century BCE in the Book of Esther (also called a “Megillah)” Purim, which translates to “lots,” tells the story of the Persian King Ahasuerus and his royal vizier, Haman, who plotted to kill the king’s Jewish subjects, claiming they were growing too powerful, and as revenge against one particular Jew in the ancient city of Shushan named Mordechai, who refused to bow down to him (Haman). When King Ahasuerus’s wife, Queen Vashti, refuses to dance naked for him and his party revelers, the king banishes Vashti and marries Esther (also known as “Hadassah”), a young woman who hides her Jewish identity. Esther learns of Haman’s evil plot to annihilate the Jews and informs Mordechai, who is her uncle. When she expresses unwillingness to approach the king on behalf of her people, Mordechai reminds Esther of one of the most important tenets of Jewish community and unity: accountability and action for one another. He warns, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” 

Rosh Hashanah, aka the Jewish New Year, is the big one when it comes to the Jewish calendar. It literally translates from Hebrew to mean “Head of The Year,” commemorates the birth of the Universe (no biggie) and the birth of Adam and Eve, and…(more)

During Passover, the seder plate is used to help retell the story of Passover and the Exodus from Egypt. Historically it is said that the seder plate differed from the seder plates we use today of ceramic, china or silver. The original seder plate was said to have been made from wicker in which Passover’s symbolic foods were placed…(more)

If you are acquainted with observant Sephardim and Mizrahim, there’s a good chance that, especially during the month of Elul, they are praying in a synagogue before it is even daylight. The practice is called “Selichot,” rooted in the Hebrew word, “Selicha,” or “pardon”), and centers on entreating God for divine forgiveness, particularly in the time leading up to the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). The penitential prayers are also said on Rosh Hashanah and focus deeply on the concept of “teshuvah” or repentance and literal “return” to God and Jewish law.

More than three thousand years ago, the concept of Shabbat transformed the world. Before then, time had no pauses: it was day after day after day. Shabbat made it so each week ended with a day off, for everyone, of every social class. The run-on sentence of time got a period, and humankind got a chance to catch its breath and focus. Tiffany Shlain shares how, all these years later, taking a full day off lets us be present with one another… Read more

Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת‎ : Hebrew for “weeks”), a.k.a. The Feast of Weeks, a.k.a. The Feast of the First Fruits, a.k.a. The Feast of the Harvest, is an ancient Jewish agricultural holiday where people would journey to the Temple to offer the best produce of their harvest…(more)

The shofar is a ram’s horn that is used in traditional Jewish rituals at select points of the year (ie, the month of Elul, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur). In ancient times, it was blown in battle to alert or rally the Israelite troops. In its contemporary religious context, it is often framed as a tool that is meant to awaken the Jewish people from their “spiritual slumber” so that they may do the work of self-reflection and repentance before the High Holidays.

Simchat Torah (Hebrew: שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה; Transliteration: sim-CHAT to-RAH), lit. “the rejoicing of the Torah” is a fall celebration that marks the end of the yearly Torah reading cycle. In many Jewish communities the festivities are marked by removing all of the Torah scrolls from the ark, at which point various members of the community will make seven circuits (hakafot) around the synagogue…(more)

Tashlich or Tashlikh, (תשליך‎‎) is a ceremony every Rosh Hashanah marking the beginning of the new year when we “cast off” the old year and, with it, the things we chose not to carry forward. It is one of the most symbolic of Jewish ceremonies…(more)

Also called the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments are the most famous and influential Top Ten list in history. The Ten Commandments can be found in the Bible in two sections – Deuteronomy and Exodus – using slightly different wording…(more)

The holiday Tu Bishvat (ט״ו בשבט) is an arboreal celebration also known as Rosh HaShana La’llanot, literally “New Year of the Trees.” In contemporary Israel, the day is recognized as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration…(more)