It is impossible to understand the current Israeli political landscape without knowing the progenitor of the phrase ‘Never Again’: Rabbi Meir Kahane. Usually taken by Jews to signify the importance of maintaining constant vigilance against antisemitism or in the broader world as a bulwark against genocide writ large, Kahane meant something else entirely when he...
The Jews of Iowa bear their citizenship in the Republic and in the commonwealth with dignity and honor…It gives me great pleasure to say for the Jews of Iowa that they are potent factors in our business, faithful defenders of peace and order and staunch advocates of all the principles of good government. –Albert Cummins,...
Join us as guest speaker Daniel Levin discusses his award-winning photography book documenting the man and work of Israeli master luthier (violin maker) Amnon Weinstein. Forty years ago Amnon began a project to restore violins that survived the concentration camps and ghettos of the holocaust, even when their owners often did not. Just over 100...
You could fill a library with books focused solely on the Jews of New York’s Lower East Side. So too the ‘Shalom Y’all’ subgenre that expounds on the Jewish peddlers who hawked their wares across the American South. The same is true for the Rust Belt, West Coast and even Canada, eh? But for some...
Before becoming Israel’s first General, David ‘Mickey’ Marcus had already graduated West Point and Brooklyn Law School, prosecuted Lucky Luciano, served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, negotiated the surrender of Fascist Italy, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, provided for millions of Displaced Persons in Europe and planned legal and security...
Join us for a delightful culinary journey at our upcoming Jewish cooking class! Get ready to roll up your sleeves and indulge in the art of cooking in our cozy and fun gathering. In this intimate setting, limited to just 12 participants, you’ll have the opportunity to master the secrets of two mouthwatering dishes: Tagine...
***Please sign up for our Yom HaShoah ceremony on Sunday evening, May 5th at 6:30pm: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/No newsletter next week*** Japan’s role in the Shoah usually begins and ends with a discussion about Righteous Among the Nations Chiune Sugihara who as a young diplomat in Kovno, Lithuana issued visas saving thousands of Jewish souls. While the...
Perhaps no Passover dish is more iconic than matzah ball soup. With recipes going back hundreds of years to the old country or pulled more recently from a box of Manischewitz mix, the combination of matzah meal, egg, water, oil and maybe a drop of schmaltz embodies the taste of Passover itself. Strange thing then...
The late 2000s/early 2010s brought a wave of pop psychology fads that sought to make complicated ideas more digestible but in subversively simplistic ways. Gurus like Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely told the world that if people only worked 10,000 hours towards a goal and happened to be born in the right month, they too...
Bagels. Lox. Kreplach. Challah. Stuffed Cabbage. Not all of the foods most closely associated with Jewish cuisine possess distinct Jewish origins. The forerunner to the modern bagel was first baked in the 14th century as a large, round and twisted piece of bread with a hole inside known as Obwarzanek. The boiled and baked doughy...