(JTA) — For most Jews, matzah season comes once a year. But for Jean-Claude Neymann, matzah, or “pain azyme” in French, is a defining family tradition. Neymann runs the oldest matzah bakery in France, located in the town of Wasselonne near the...
Julie Sperling working the matzah dough at the Naga Bakehouse in Vermont. (Courtesy Naga Bakehouse) NEW YORK (JTA) — In their small farmhouse bakery in Vermont, Doug Freilich and Julie Sperling work round the clock producing matzah in the period...
NEW YORK — On a recent trip to Jerusalem, my son decided that his favorite color was gold. Whenever he’s asked why, he replies with a wry smile befitting a 5-year-old.“Jerusalem is the city of gold, of course,” he says.When we told him our family...
By Deborah R. Prinz, JTA
• Published April 6, 2014
Toss the potato starch and matzah meal -- serve delectable desserts this Passover made from chocolate. These desserts, especially if using fair trade or organic chocolate, further awareness of the themes of Passover. They remind us of the great...
NEW YORK — Planning Passover meals is always a wonderful challenge. For the seders, most of us focus on traditional family recipes because they are tried and proven, and because everyone likes them (and often asks for these favorites dishes). But what...
NEW YORK — We had just closed our Haggadahs to begin the dinner portion of the Passover seder when the conversation abruptly, yet not surprisingly, turned to my singlehood. There is a curiosity to some about a single, childless woman in her early 40s,...
BOSTON — Frolicking frogs and magical matzah balls are featured in this season’s crop of new Passover books for children that are sure to engage, inform, entertain and inspire. David Adler, author of the hugely popular early reader “Cam Jansen”...
What’s the most important part of Passover? Matzah? Wine? Haggadah? Aunt Tilly’s gefilte fish? Freedom from slavery is awesome. But despite the lines of the Haggadah song “dayenu,” the freedom would not have meant very much without the Torah....
The Passover seder remains the most universally practiced Jewish holiday custom. More Jews attended a seder last year than attended services on Yom Kippur. Why is that? Is it because Jews prefer eating matzah balls rather than fasting and long services?...
By Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, JTA
• Published May 22, 2012
JERUSALEM — Unlike other Jewish holidays, the Torah does not specify a date for Shavuot; it is celebrated on the 50th day (seven weeks) after Passover. We moderns celebrate Shavuot on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in ancient times, when...
Misplaced priorities The Missouri Senate is about to put Missouri last in the country when it comes to supporting working parents’ need for child care. Why? So we can continue to let corporations and private citizens get away with not paying their taxes. ...
By Steve Gutow and Abby Leibman
• Published April 5, 2012
A well-known D.C. maxim advises that any economic stimulus must be timely, targeted and temporary. So as legislators begin drafting the 2012 Farm Bill, why are some proposing to cut a program that responds in direct relation to need, supports recipients...
