The last three verses of the Book of Genesis have a prophetic glow to them: Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will assuredly take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then […]
Category Archives: Feasts
As a little Jewish boy growing up in Montreal I used to sing a Yiddish Purim (Feast of Esther) song: “Haynt is Purim, kinder; S’iz der yontif groys!” (‘Today is Purim, children! It’s the great holiday!’). And once again, according to the Jewish calendar we have arrived at the yearly celebration of the Feast of […]
Passover is here. Jewish homes are gathering for our yearly seder, the recounting of God’s deliverance from the hands of our enemies in Egypt. This is the Jewish family celebration par excellence. I have cherished childhood memories of my Ukraine-born bobbeh (Jewish grandmother) bringing out culinary masterpieces, one after another, to the festive table. […]
Let’s move the hands of the clock back more than 2,400 years to ancient Iran. Two high-level Persian court politicians had become so angry with King Ahasuerus that they plotted together to assassinate him. The old Latin word for this plan – conspiracy – comes from the joining of ‘spiro’ (to breath) and ‘con’ (together). […]
Many Jewish people have a hard time figuring out what Christmas is about. When I was a young Jewish kid growing up in Catholic-Protestant Quebec, I loved the winking tree lights, the holly and the ivy wreaths, the fact that many people were getting tipsy and acting especially friendly to each other. As a musician, […]
Growing up as a Jewish kid in Montreal, I loved Christmas. Snowy winter lawns were bejeweled at night with twinkling trees. People got tipsy and were nice to each other. What could be bad about all that? And a baby nursed in a Bethlehem stable seemed like friendly ‘family content’. Secular Westerners love the tinsel […]