7 or 8

Today is the last day of Pesach.  The Torah tells us to celebrate Passover for seven days.    Reform Jews and all Israeli Jews will observe the Biblical number of days.  Yet every year there are questions about the “correct” number of days to observe Passover. Conservative and Orthodox Jews outside of Israel add an…Read more »

Earth day is Every Day

Today is Earth Day.  You will hear a lot of emphasis on caring for our planet, recycling, energy reduction including reducing your own carbon footprint.  There are simple things you can and should do including changing all your light bulbs to CFL ones rather than incandescent ones. You can take your phone charger out of…Read more »

Waiting Jews

Passover Rabbi Denise L. Eger This week we celebrate the amazing festival of Passover!  The special Torah reading for this week’s Shabbat is Ex 33:12-34:26.   Each day of the festival there are special readings from Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers that focus on Passover, the paschal offering and the observance of Passover in the Bible…Read more »

Boehner’s Folly

The Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner has decided that the House  will defend DOMA-the Defense of Marriage Act.  He has authorized up to a half a million dollars and has hired former  solicitor general Paul Clement to defend DOMA in Court since the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice will no longer do…Read more »

Human Traffic

Tonight Jews will sit down to the Seder meal.  The service at the table will try to bring about order out of the chaos of slavery.  The story of the Exodus is nothing short of a creation story. It is the creation of the Jewish people. The word Seder means order.  And while there is…Read more »

Fruit Compote

There were a number of special recipes that I used to make that just screamed Passover.   One was stewed fruit compote.  Prunes, apricots and dried pears cooked in a simple syrup that included a bit of lemon and cinnamon sticks. My mother ALWAYS made this for Passover.  No other time of year.  Perhaps because…Read more »

Laker Shame

I am not a Laker fan.  I like basketball well enough.  I actually prefer college ball to professional. But Los Angeles is definitely a Laker kind of town.  It is the sport that dominates here.  Some towns are football towns and others baseball towns. But Los Angeles is a Laker town. But after Kobe’s sexual…Read more »