 Shana tovah u'metukah The exhortation to have a "good and sweet year" isn't just a figure of speech; it also guides the menu for celebrations of Rosh Hashanah for Jewish people around the world. This observance of the New Year brings the faithful together, for two nights in some communities and one night in others, in services to reflect upon and celebrate the year that has passed and the one that is to come. The shofar - the horn of a ram - is blown, bread is tossed into the water to indicate the casting off of sins, prayers and poems are recited. Then comes the feasting.  Editor's note: This piece - a little-known lesson in African American drinkways - was originally delivered as a presentation at the 2008 Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium on the Liquid South. It was later printed in Cornbread Nation 5. Today's installment comes courtesy of John Simpkins, Fellow of Comparative Constitutional Law at the Charleston School of Law. I've been black since birth. I'm not sure how long I've been a Jew. "You're the only black person I know who can quote Woody Allen movies," said my Jewish friend, Peter, when I asked him to assess my Jewishness. "I only quote from the early good ones," I explained. "And those I love. In fact, love is too weak a word for what I feel. I more than love them. I 'lurve' them." "Sammy Davis Jr. was your favorite member of the Rat Pack," Peter continued, pressing his case. "You even sent your three-year-old to summer camp at the Jewish Community Center. He recognizes the Israeli flag, can sing the dreidel song, and is constantly asking for challah. If you're not Jewish, Jonah certainly is." Shana tovah u'metukah The exhortation to have a "good and sweet year" isn't just a figure of speech; it also guides the menu for celebrations of Rosh Hashanah for Jewish people around the world. This observance of the New Year brings the faithful together, for two nights in some communities and one night in others, in services to reflect upon and celebrate the year that has passed and the one that is to come. The shofar - the horn of a ram - is blown, bread is tossed into the water to indicate the casting off of sins, prayers and poems are recited. Then comes the feasting.  Editor's note: Since 2004, Shmuel Herzfeld has been the Rabbi of Ohev Sholom – The National Synagogue, the oldest and largest Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C. His first book will be published within a year, titled: The Relevance of the Torah for our Modern Lives. The lower house of the Dutch parliament recently passed legislation that would ban ritual slaughter in accordance with both Jewish law, known as shechita, and Muslim law, known as halal. The legislation would require the stunning of animals before their slaughter, an act that is forbidden by Jewish law. For Jews, this is a very emotional issue that cuts at the core of who we are.  Twelve years of Catholic school provided me with many things: rock-solid knowledge of Dewey Decimal shelf placement of books on The Life of Christ (232.9), a complicated relationship with plaid skirts, and to-the-millimeter specifics on how much room the Holy Spirit requires to remain between dance partners. Not addressed with quite as much fervor - the "Sabbath mode" on major cooking appliances. Today's press release from GE clears that all up:
Steven Weinberger is a Senior Systems/Software Developer at CNN and maintains Kosherblog.net. Follow him on Twitter @KosherDIY. On the last full week of August, I took my wife and five children on a road trip. We were going to be driving in our minivan for more than 18 hours, across six states. Masochistic? Very few road trips with five children aren't. Our inspiration for this trip? Three letters say it all: BBQ. We were headed to Memphis, Tennessee to compete in the nation's oldest and largest Kosher BBQ competition. Kosher BBQ? In Memphis? True enough, in Memphis pork is the undisputed king of BBQ, but at the Anshei Sphard – Beth El Emeth Congregation in Memphis, it's all about beef - Kosher beef briskets and racks of ribs shipped in from a New York distributor to be exact. Fortunately, we arrived at the ASBEE parking lot early Wednesday evening, just in time for meat selection. Determined not to succumb to the exhaustion of the drive, I chose my brisket and four racks of ribs that I would be serving on Sunday and got down to prep work immediately.  In cooking, the process of clarification entails straining out extraneous muck from liquids so that they might be pure, clear and ideal for consumption. With this series on the world's dietary tribes, we're attempting to do the same. Future installments will explore the foodways, politics and beliefs of vegans, raw foodists, pescetarians and other culinary collectives. Today, we're delving into the dietary restrictions of twelve religions in the hopes of cooking up a little interfaith understanding. Learn which group looks to yogurt and fresh vegetables for enlightenment and whose holy men eschew the digestive effects of legumes and crucifers. Bahá’í Buddhism |
  Recent Posts
 |
 |
|
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
