Life & Religion

Ritual & Observance

Ocean Pew

Though only a tiny fraction of what it was in the 18th century, Barbados’s Jewish community—and its 1750 synagogue—still stand proud
By Alexander Gelfand

More in Life & Religion

Family

Going Nuts

Passover is about freedom, so let’s not encourage our kids to be slaves to their allergies
By Marjorie Ingall | 7:00 AM Mar 15, 2010

I have a fatal nut allergy. I’ve gone into anaphylactic shock twice, once as a 2-year-old after my mom gave me a pecan muffin, and once as a twentysomething after a bored waitress told me that no, there were no walnuts in the pesto.
These days I carry EpiPens. I bypass fancy pastries, since they often ...

Ritual & Observance

Bull Market

A haftorah of blame and blessings
By Liel Leibovitz | 7:00 AM Mar 12, 2010

So says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish, and you shall purify the altar. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering and put it on the doorpost of the House, and on the four corners of ...

Family

Welcome Home?

My children are becoming German citizens, and I’m going nuts
By Marjorie Ingall | 7:00 AM Mar 8, 2010

Once upon a time there was a young rabbi named Ulrich. He lived with his beautiful wife and their adorable baby in Heidelberg, Germany, a city of poets and composers and philosophers. Ulrich’s city was surrounded by dark forests and nestled by a sparkling river. There was even a castle. Ulrich was happy there. His ...

Ritual & Observance

Gaming God

A haftorah of video games and vengeance
By Liel Leibovitz | 7:00 AM Mar 5, 2010

Whatever its earthly, economic problems, Greece owes me big. This week, I cleansed it of a three-headed Hydra, freed Athens from hordes of the undead, and gave Prometheus a hand with that pesky bird pecking at his liver.
No need to thank me, however. I was just doing my bit. Or rather, Kratos was: He is ...

Ritual & Observance

Exodus

Forget cleaning for Passover and instead head to a luxury hotel for the holiday
By Jennifer Garfinkel | 7:00 AM Mar 4, 2010

“Next year in Jerusalem” is, of course, the traditional conclusion of the Passover seder. But “Next year in Aruba” may be gaining ground.
Passovers spent away from home are a long-standing tradition. Instead of hauling boxes of dishes out of storage, performing bedikat chametz, and spending days—or weeks—preparing kosher-for-Passover meals, observant East Coast Jews who could ...

Video 

Family

Are You There, God? It’s Us.

Little people, big questions
By Marjorie Ingall | 7:00 AM Mar 1, 2010

We asked Lila, 7, Josie, 8, and Noemi, almost 5, a few questions: how do you picture God? Why does God allow evil in the world? Is God all-powerful?
You know, the little questions.
These imponderables may stump rabbis and philosophers, but children have their own ideas.

Sex & Body

Sisters in Arms

Playing the defiant Vashti in a day school Purim play awakened my inner feminist
By Elisa Albert | 7:00 AM Feb 26, 2010

A couple of thousand years after Haman was sent to his death for trying to persuade King Ahasuerus to execute all the Jews in his kingdom, a motley group of fifth- and sixth-graders at Temple Emanuel Community Day School of Beverly Hills (motto: “Living Judaism!”) pulled out all the stops on a Purim musical revue ...