The setting: Oriental Pearl Restaurant (famous for dim sum), 6:45 pm on Christmas.
The expectation: Jammed with Jews like us, lining up to chow down after a movie.
The reality: The place is empty. Seriously empty.
A couple of Asian families with kids, and a handful of gringoes like us.
The reason: Not merely snow, but fluffly snow that was actually sticking.
The waiter: "Chinese people scared to drive in snow."
Shanah tova - peace, prosperity, purpose and prudence to all in 5771.
Gentlemen:
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington Oh what a delicious example of social media marketing and what a brilliant way to bring attention to the good works and values of a non-profit.
The Glenn Beck Haik U Project is the brain child of the Jewish Funds for Justice. They took umbrage when Beck urged listeners to leave any church or faith organization where a pastor or clerical leader utters the words "Social Justice" or "Economic Justice." Jewish Funds for Justice suggests that folks who find this a tad extreme (if not downright crazy) compose a haiku of outrage based on Beck's latest exhortation to wingnuts.
"I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice are code words [for Communism and Nazism]. Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"
Some submissions:
nazis and commiesSubmit your haiku right on their homepage. And learn about the work of the JFJ.
were not exactly big church
people anyway
Glenn Beck went to church
but left before it ended.
Sermon on the Mount?
Glenn we beg of you
Look up meanings of big words
Before you use them.
I don't understand
The twisted logic of this
Shameless, crazy schmuck
Remember this? Over the years I actually have had the dream that I forgot to get married and have kids. For women of a certain generation, it's as iconic as "I forgot to go to class/didn't study/couldn't find the classroom."
Well, this morning I woke up in the midst of a horrible dream that I was still the mother of young children and it was Purim and OMG, not only did they not have costumes for the Purim Carnival at school, I forgot to bake Hamantaschen!
Here's a recipe I like for these Purim pastries, based on Haman's 3-cornered hat. Plus another sephardic Purim cookie recipe that's even better.
Hamantaschen (adapted from Jayne Cohen, The Gefilte Variations)
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter (plus butter for greasing the pan)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 Tb. fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups unbleached flour
1/4 tsp. salt
Filling Recipes - your choice
1. In food processor, blend butter with sugar. Add egg, juice, vanilla and pulse until smooth. Stir dry ingredients together and add to food processor. Pulse until ingredients are blended and form a ball on the blades.
2. Divide dough into 4 balls and wrap each will with plastic. Refrigerate at least two yours and up to 3 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. Work with one ball of dough at a time, leaving the rest wrapped and refrigerated. Divide/cut the ball into 12 pieces of equal size and roll each piece between your palms into balls. Flatten each ball between sheets of plastic wrap and pat into even rounds of about 3" diameter.
5. Spoon a heaping tsp. of filling in the center of each circle. Fold up one side, making a rim, then fold the two adjacent sides up, forming a triangle. Pinch and smooth the edges. To keep hamantaschen from opening during baking keep the dough cool and don't overhandle.
FILLINGS:
Sephardic Purim Cookies (makes 2 dozen)
1 1/4 Cups ground toasted almonds or hazelnuts
1 1/4 Cups sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg, slightly beaten + 1 egg yolk
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add the egg and yolk and mix well
2. Shape the mixture with your hands, a tsp. at a time, into 3" sticks.
NOTE, the dough is sticky and you may have to wet your hands a bit to work with it.
3. Place on a greased and floured baking sheet, about 2" apart. Flatten with a fork.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 10 minutes, transfer to cooking rack
Ya gotta love the Italians. While North American newspapers are struggling to survive and 5 major American magazines ceased publication last week alone, Italy has launched a monthly Jewish newspaper, to be sold on newsstands, essentially for non Jews! Banking on Italy's fascination with all things Jewish, Pagine Ebraiche is published by Italy's version of the Jewish Federation, but its aim is to link the Italian Jewish community with the wider Italian world. Rome, of course, is said to be home to the oldest continuously Jewish population outside of Israel.
The impetus behind them is the UCEI's desire to confront a seeming paradox: Italians are fascinated by things Jewish even though the country's 30,000 Jews comprise a tiny fraction of the population of 60 million.
"There is a huge interest in Jews and Jewish culture here," said Emanuele Ascarelli, who directs “Sorgente di Vita” (“Source of Life”), a biweekly Jewish television program co-produced by UCEI and state-run RAI television that draws 200,000 to 400,000 viewers. Ascarelli estimates that 90 to 95 percent of them are not Jewish.
Ascarelli says the new media initiatives reaching out to the non-Jewish world reflects a new self-confidence among Italian Jews.
Meanwhile, here in Atlanta, the state of Jewish publishing is absolutely dismal. The Atlanta Jewish Times has ceased to have an online presence and circulation under the new editor has plummeted. The Jewish Georgian, bless its heart, continues to publish.
A group of undergraduate architecture students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, rebuilt the WesSukkah this week. (The sukkah was originally erected in the spring, when it won Faith and Form Magazine’s prestigious Sacred Landscape Award.) The sukkah was envisioned as something that could operate on both interpretive and physical levels. It had to satisfy a set of halakhic requirements, but it also had to interest and excite a young audience. The result is an undulating structure of five archways of skeletal-steel framing covered in bamboo mats, through which light penetrates to provide the needed view of the sky and stars—just one of several stipulations laid down in the Mishna and Talmud regarding the building of a sukkah.
CREDIT: Gideon Finck
Summer is here and it's time to make your plans. Me, I'll be on the shore in July, in the Berkshires in August, and in the Georgia Mountains at Tumbling Waters Resort for Atlanta's first LimmudFest over Labor Day Weekend. This multi-day Limmud event takes Limmud Atlanta to the next level, offering 3 full days of community, performances and learning. The resort offers comfortable cabins, lake and pool swimming, hiking, and all meals are included.
See the amazing list of confirmed presenters and folks we'll be living and learning with. 
Analia Bortz, Congregational rabbi, medical doctor, teacher, and mother from Argentina
Richard Chess, Professor of literature and classics at UNC-Asheville
Marshall Duke, Professor of psychology at Emory University, chrayn-maker extraordinnaire
Barbara Flexner, Painter, weaver, and spinner
Paul Flexner, Teacher, educator, and MG enthusiast
Marcus Freed, Performer, writer, and Bibliyogi from London
Richard Friedman, Professor of Jewish Studies at UGA, author of Who Wrote the Bible?
Shalom Goldman, Professor of Hebrew and Middle Eastern Studies at Emory University
Eric L. Goldstein, Associate professor of history and Jewish Studies at Emory University
Helene Kates, Musician, performer, and teacher, lead singer of The Baal Shem Tones
Linda Nathanson Lippitt
Laurie L. Patton, Professor of Religion at Emory University
Dafna Robinson, Chair of visual arts department at Georgia Southwestern State University, art director at Ramah Darom
Peninnah Schram, Storyteller, author, recording artist, and professor of speech and drama at Stern College
Craig Silverman, Jewish JAG in Iraq
Rae Sirott, Social worker, music therapist, group-drumming facilitator
Click here for full bios 
Our host site has been voted "Best Conference Resort" in Georgia for 2009
Jennifer Homans: Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet
Brilliant and BIG new history of ballet. Cool to be reading this after "The Black Swan."
Zoe Heller: The Believers: A Novel
Fun novel of family dysfunction -- an iconic leftie family (think William Kunstler) in NYC wrestles with truth and and loyalty as the patriarch lies in a coma.
Patti Smith: Just Kids
Patti Smith's style is lean and direct, but she still grabs your heart and soul in this memoir of NYC in the 70's and her lifelong friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe.
Allegra Goodman: The Cookbook Collector: A Novel
I didn't even realize it was a riff on Jane Austin. Well done novel dealing with themes of family, greed, trust and identity during the dot com boom.
Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question (Man Booker Prize)
Substitute "Jew" for Finkler and you have a biting and hilarious novel about Jews in England.
David Kamp: The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution
How I forgot to read this I'll never know...had a copy on the shelf and overlooked it. A very entertaining and well done overview of the Foodie Revolution. Putting all the players and trends into a time line makes me see how far we've come, and how far we still have to go.
Anthony Bourdain: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
The always entertaining Tony Bourdain comes to terms, sort of, with aging, old grudges, and the delights of fatherhood. He hasn't totally lost his edge, but there are some knicks on the blade. The chapter on the guy who breaks down 700 pounds of fish every day for Le Bernardin is worth the whole book.
Hilary Thayer Hamann: Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel
Well, I finished it. And I liked it alot. But then, I love books about bourgeois life where nothing much happens. The writing is sharp and evocative. The story is, I dunno, familiar? Most interesting is the story of how this book went from a self-published effort to a mainstream book. Kudos to HTH.
Clay Shirky: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
A must read for anyone involved with social media or who is left breathless by the pace of change in our world.
