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Should we worry about what the price of our food means for the people around us? Does raising the cost of staples by making them into something rarefied and unique add variety to our lives or does it separate us from people who eat to sustain themselves? The Dinner Party Download: The Value of Four-Dollar Toast February 14, 2014 Brendan Francis Newnam:When did the San Francisco toast trend begin? John Birdsall:Really about a year ago, when a place called The Mill...

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In Libya, before Passover, women would grind flour for matzah for 7 days while the men took chalk from the mountains to make whitewash. Then, they would paint their houses inside and out. Until the Seder, everyone slept outside.

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Source 1: Babylonian Talmud Context: The Babylonian Talmud is a collection of Jewish stories, laws and debates grounded in the Bible and other Jewish texts. It was compiled in the fifth century in modern-day Iraq, but many portions of it are much older. Here, the Talmud quotes and comments on a passage from a second-century text called the Mishnah. The Mishnah asks, “How long must a person live in a city to be counted among the people of that city?”, and...

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By: Rabbi Ari Weiss At the close of the Haggadah, after moving from past humiliations to future hopes, a surprise! A piyut, or liturgical poem, first quoted in Sefer Rokeach (1160-1238), that returns to the Haggadic theme of retribution but on a deeper, more fundamental register. Nature is a "war of all against all."[1]  The cat that attacks is attacked just as the Egyptians who oppressed are oppressed. "Nature red in tooth and claw."[2]  And so it goes. Violence always escalating,...

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At the end of the seder, it is traditional to say or sing " Next Year in Jerusalem". We sometimes think of this as a literal wish, though far fewer of us have actually found ourselves in Jerusalem for seder the following year -- congratulations if you have!But Jerusalem is more than a place, it is a feeling, it is a hope.  At this point in the seder, 1/2 or 1/4 sheets of paper should be passed around to each participant,...

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Touch Me by Stanley Kunitz Summer is late, my heart. Words plucked out of the air some forty years ago when I was wild with love and torn almost in two scatter like leaves this night of whistling wind and rain. It is my heart that's late, it is my song that's flown. Outdoors all afternoon under a gunmetal sky staking my garden down, I kneeled to the crickets trilling underfoot as if about to burst from their crusty shells; and...

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1) 64% felt unsafe at school due to sexual orientation 2) 44% felt unsafe at school due to gender identification 3) 42% of LGBT youth have experienced cyber bullying 4) 42% of LBGT youth say the community in which they live in is not accepting of LGBT people 5) Only 77% of LGBT youth say they know things will get better 6) 60% LGBT students report feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation 7) LGBT youth are 4 times...

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We encourage you to ask four questions of your own... about anything... ask them of yourselves and of each other. Can we be humble enough to admit when we do not know something, rather than pretending to have the answer? Can we be gracious enough to answer another’s question without shaming them for not knowing? Can we be brave enough to inquire within, and ask ourselves our own hard questions? Can we open our hearts to the love that wants to...

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The seder opens with kiddush (the sanctification over wine). This is certainly unremarkable after all, kiddush is the opening act of every shabbat and holiday meal. But kiddush – a ritual .sanctification of time – has an intimate and unique connection to Pesach’s central theme: freedom. How so? As Israel was about to be released from slavery, God instituted a new calendar: “This month shall (mark for you the beginning of months; the first of the months of the year for...

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The world was awakened and shattered by the images of a little boy whose body lay lifeless amidst the gentle surf of a Turkish beach this past summer. Another nameless victim amongst thousands in the Syrian Refugee Crisis, the greatest refugee crisis since WWII. But this little boy, like every little boy ,had a name. His name was Aylan Kurdi (age 3), he drowned along with his older brother, Galip (age 5), and their mother, Rihan, on their own exodus to...

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Caged Bird BY MAYA ANGELOU A free bird leaps  on the back of the wind    and floats downstream    till the current ends  and dips his wing  in the orange sun rays  and dares to claim the sky.  But a bird that stalks  down his narrow cage  can seldom see through  his bars of rage  his wings are clipped and    his feet are tied  so he opens his throat to sing.  The caged bird sings    with a fearful trill    of things unknown   ...

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After the leader reads the introduction to the Haggadah supplement, either walk with your guests to the front door or have one guest rise from the table and walk to the front door. There, place a pair of shoes on the doorstep and read the words below. Leader: The heart of the Passover Seder tells the story of the Jewish people’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. During the retelling of this story, we say the words, “ (Arami oved avi).” This...

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I'm so glad you've come to our community Passover seder ! We're trying things a bit differently this year, with thanks to haggadot.com. If you like it, let us know right away; if not, send an email after Passover. If you're new to Heska Amuna Synagogue, welcome! If you're a veteran, go out of your way to make someone else feel welcome! We're excited to begin, by sharingspecial Seder memories: – special Passover tradition – best moment at the old family...

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Mikdash : A Quickstart Guide for Sanctuary Synagogues A Jewish Imperative The immigrants’ fight is our fight. Whether we are moved by hakhnasat orchim (welcoming guests), “Love the stranger for you were strangers,” “Do not return a slave who seeks refuge to his master,” our history of repeated expulsions, our own immigration status or that of members of our communities, or contemporary anti-Semitism that shares the same xenophobic roots, Jews heed the call of Torah when we stand with those who...

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We comfort and mourn those whose blood has been spilled. We stop infestations of hatred and fear. We overcome the sickness of racism and bigotry. We fill the air with voices for change. We bring light to those who live in the shadows. We inspire the next generation to carry on the struggle for a better world. We appeal to all people to act with humanity. We protest the proliferation of violence. We tend to those who suffer from disease. We...