The New York Jewish Week.... Connecting the World to Jewish News, Culture, Features, and Opnions for Friday, 30 May 2014
Dear Reader,Shavuot, the holiday on which we celebrate the giving of the Torah from Sinai, is almost here, and to help you prepare, The Jewish Week offers some sustenance for soul and body.
From Rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles' Temple Sinai, we have a short piece that gives several answers to the question of why the sages urge us to pray in a room with windows. One of his thoughts: "There is the idea of oneself being a window, shining from the inside. At our best, we are intended to be the light that is our gift."
MUSINGS
Windows To The Soul
Rabbi David Wolpe
Rabbi David Wolpe
One should pray in a room that has windows. In the Talmud, R. Hiyya Bar Abba cites the book of Daniel, (6:11): “and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem (he prayed).”
The first meaning is that through a window one can look toward Jerusalem. Still, as with most halachot (Jewish laws), there are levels upon levels. Our prayers celebrate the beauty of God’s world. How much more significant if we can see the world as we sing its praises? When, during the Amidah, we recite “who daily renews the work of creation,” the phrase is enhanced by looking out over the sky, the field and those who pass by.
Perhaps the tradition also envisages others looking in at those who are praying. To see people at prayer is to be reminded of higher things in the middle of one’s day.
Finally, there is the idea of oneself being a window, shining from the inside. At our best we are intended to be the light that is our gift. “The soul of a person is the candle of God” (Prov. 20:27). Through windows we see God’s world and one another.
Rabbi David Wolpe is spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @RabbiWolpe.
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And we wouldn't be us if we didn't provide not just one recipe, but several, especially on such a deliciously dairy holiday. Check our Food & Wine section for these recipes and lots of others.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/food-wine
We've got fully loaded cheesecake. Cookie dough, anyone? Roasted fig ice cream and, for your midnight snack as you study away on Shavuot, cheese cake pops.
Cheesecake, Fully Loaded
This Shavuot, embrace all-out decadence for 48 hours.
Amy Spiro
Jewish Week Online Columnist
I try to eat fairly healthy a good chunk of the time, but cheesecake is a major weakness of mine, and though I avoid it most of the year, when it comes to Shavuot I feel fully justified embracing it.
While dreaming up how to top some of my epic cheesecakes from years gone by, like Caramel-Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, Strawberry-Lime Cheesecake and Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake, I figured why not throw the things I absolutely love into the mix? I'm talking cookie dough and peanut butter cups. Hence, this completely decadent, over-the-top cheesecake was born. It is actually a pretty simple recipe, and you can even cut the time in half by using store-bought cookie dough in place of mine. You could also cut the filling recipe in half and bake it in a storebought graham cracker crust, making this a super-speedy dessert!
If you do want to think a little bit lighter this Shavuot, I've had a lot of success with swapping out 25 percent to 40 percent of the cheese with fat-free Greek yogurt. You get a bit lighter, fluffier texture but still gobs of cheesy flavor. Chag sameach!
Amy Spiro is a journalist and writer based in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute's baking and pastry track, a regular writer for The Jerusalem Post and blogs at bakingandmistaking.com. She also holds a BA in Journalism and Politics from NYU.
Ingredients:
Crust:
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) melted butter
Filling:
20 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup mini peanut butter cups, roughly chopped
Cookie Dough:
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Recipe Steps:
Mix the crust ingredients together and press in to the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan. Set aside.
To make the cookie dough, beat together the butter, sugars and salt until well mixed. Add in the vanilla and mix to combine. Add the flour and mix, then stir in the chocolate chips. Let chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. Pour in to the prepared pan and spread until smooth.
Drop chunks of cookie dough and pieces of peanut butter cup randomly over the cheesecake. Press down in to the mixture.
Bake on 350 F for about 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature then refrigerate until cold. (Optional: top with chocolate ganache.)
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Go Beyond Plain Old Vanilla
For this Shavuot, try an avant-garde ice cream flavor: fig with orange and rosemary.
Ronnie Fein
Jewish Week Online Columnist
Can you guess America’s favorite ice cream flavor?
If you said vanilla, you’re right—by a large margin. Vanilla’s runner-ups, according to the International Ice Cream Association and the International Dairy Foods Association, are chocolate and butter pecan.
I knew that. Always did, even as a kid when my cousin told me the tiny black speckles in my favorite ice cream were dirt and that everyone else in the world preferred chocolate. No, they didn’t. Not then, and not now.
There’s no denying vanilla ice cream’s clean, milky appeal. But for those who like to venture, gastronomically speaking, beyond the usual suspects, there is more. I’m not talking about the typical competitors. Not flavors such as rocky road or cookies and cream or even heath bar crunch, all of which are, at their core, variations on vanilla or chocolate.
I mean ice cream flavors that are truly unusual, that titillate the tongue and excite the palate, because they taste new and bold and fresh. And even if they aren’t the stuff of daily indulgence, they are the ones we yearn for when we want a treat that will wow our friends and family, or serve something special for a holiday such as Shavuot, which begins next week.
I’m here today to talk about roasted fig ice cream with orange and rosemary. You’ve never tasted a flavor quite like this one: bright orange peel and fragrant rosemary provide a lively, refreshing, faintly grassy contrast to the intense, concentrated natural fruit sugars of the roasted figs. It’s earthy and sweet, but not cloying.
Ice cream is easy to make at home and this recipe is very forgiving. I’ve made it several ways, with different types of dried figs—I like Mission figs the best—as well as with prunes. Half and half is a nice compromise as a base. It’s not as rich as heavy or whipping cream, but still produces a smoother texture than ice creams made lots of milk.
You needn’t do anything more with this dish than serve it in a bowl, maybe with some fresh orange chunks or rosemary sprigs to pretty up the plate. A blob of whipped cream never hurts. Toasted almonds would be fine but aren’t necessary. But please, stop there: this is an ice cream flavor that stands up all on its own.
Ingredients:
4 ounces chopped dried figs
1 tablespoon honey
2/3 cup orange juice
3 cups half and half or light cream
½ cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 sprig fresh rosemary
Recipe Steps:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the figs in a baking pan. Pour the honey on top stir to coat, then pour orange juice over. Roast the figs for about 25 minutes, turning them occasionally, until they have softened. Remove figs from oven and set aside.
Pour 2 cups cream into a medium saucepan, add rosemary, and heat over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan, being careful not to scorch. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove rosemary.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, egg yolks and salt at medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until light and thick. Gradually add the heated cream and mix. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 8-10 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour in the remaining cream and blend thoroughly. Add the figs plus any liquid, the orange zest and rosemary. Pour into a plastic container and refrigerate until cold. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions. Yield: about one quart
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NOSHING
Amy Kritzer
Jewish Week Online Columnist
That Perfect Midnight Snack
Cheesecake pops are sure to sweeten your Shavuot study break.
Cheesecake cake pops, aka cheesecake on a stick. Amy Kritzer
Don’t break out your cheesecake pan just yet. Shavuot, which starts the evening of June 3, is the recognition of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. The reasons we traditionally eat dairy on this holiday are varied. Some say it’s because when Jews received the Torah, we also got the commandment to keep kosher. Since the Jewish people did not have kosher meat or tools ready, they took the dairy route. Others say the dairy is a reminder of our freedom in Israel, the “land of milk and honey.” Either way, each year Jews gladly dive into blintzes, kugel and, of course, cheesecake.
But ordinary cheesecake is so last year.
According to lore, the Jewish people had advance knowledge that Moses was going to receive the Torah from God on Mount Sinai, and went to bed early in preparation the night before—but overslept the next day. According to Chabad, we now pull all-night Torah study sessions (known as tikkun) to repent for this sin. To stay up all night studying you certainly need nourishment, or at least a good sugar rush.
But traditional cheesecake is a messy mid-study nosh: there must be an easier way. Enter cheesecake cake pops, aka cheesecake on a stick. Use your favorite cheesecake recipe, or even store-bought — we won’t tell! If savory is more your style, try these cheesy hummus-stuffed mushrooms.
Click here for recipe: Cheesecake Cake Pops
Click here for recipe: Cheesy Hummus-Stuffed Mushrooms
To be sure, even at the best of times, we all know that no community is without its tensions. One article that's received a lot of attention on our website is this post from a congregant who's passionate about both her synagogue, and a partnership minyan, and committed to making her relationship with both of them work.
OPINION
A Five-Point Plan
How we're navigating the conflict over our partnership minyan.
Audrey Trachtman
Audrey Trachtma
I live in a town with one Orthodox synagogue. That is not simple if you prefer progressive Orthodoxy. It's sometimes not even simple if you like old-fashioned Modern Orthodoxy. But the community is diverse, our friends are here and we have carved out a liberal outpost for ourselves in "Kol Echad", a partnership minyan. A partnership minyan is a mechitza minyan, with a divider between men's and women's sections; where women read from the Torah; receive aliyot and lead prayers on for selected parts of the service.
It meets once a month in people's homes. But a few weeks ago the rabbi of our community gave a speech in which he spoke of the absolute impermissibility of partnership minyanim.
The speech was billed as discussing "the tefillin controversy" but after a small appetizer on women wearing tefillin (not allowed), it became an extensive argument against partnership minyanim on halachic grounds.
Perhaps the prime-time nature of the talk indicates that after 10 years, our minyan is big enough and has enough traction that it poses a threat.
Those who heard the speech -- my husband and I were not in town that Shabbat – and who consider halacha immutable said it confirmed their understanding of halacha as a static system whose evolution ended with the publication of the Shulchan Aruch, or Code of Jewish Law, written in the mid-16th century. For those who seek a dynamic religion and a more inclusive, egalitarian, participatory service, they were struck by how selective and superficial the rabbi’s analysis of the sources was. And yet, this is the rabbi of our community. How do we navigate this conflict? Here is my five- point plan.
1. Dialogue and Persuade. I recognize that a partnership minyan is not for everyone. Nonetheless, it is a good alternative for those who do not experience the spirituality they seek in a traditional service. Given this motivation, why would a rabbi choose to marginalize the participants, members of his own synagogue, rather than encouraging them to do/study more to achieve the spirituality they seek? In this world of increased access to information, the model of a local rabbi who uses coercion instead of persuasion seems outmoded and, ultimately, ineffective. This approach may work in a homogeneous yeshiva setting. But if the goal is to enrich and engage people religiously, this leadership style won't work in a modern community. Wouldn't it make more sense to learn and discuss topics like this together even if we disagree?
2. Educate. We make copies of Rabbi Daniel Sperber and Mendel Shapiro's analyses, which permit partnership minyanim as within the bounds of halacha, and offer to study them with anyone interested in the subject. Knowledge is always good.
3. Review halachic development with an eye to the future. I have confidence in my judgment of what is right for me after studying the sources and discussing the issues with rabbis and other learned people who understand and share my worldview. I believe that we owe it to ourselves to engage with the sources in the context of what the Orthodox community looks like/thinks/does today. A rabbi who chooses to ignore the social context in which I function will not be able to reach me.
Our rabbi is correct when he asserts that the great majority of Orthodox rabbis today disapprove of partnership minyanim, but I believe we are at the cusp of a change in practice. Many years ago, women studying Torah and, more recently, Talmud, were seen as beyond the pale. Today the first is an accepted fact of life even in the most charedi communities and the second is an accepted part of a Modern Orthodox education. Similarly, the great sages of previous generations were opposed to bat mitzvahs and women saying Kaddish. Yet, today these are standard practices in our synagogue. Does this not suggest that in practices like partnership minyanim may be acceptable in the future?
4. Ignore the negative. I try not to hear the mean-spiritedness with which some people talk about us. The fact that they say we are guided by anger speaks more about them then it does about me. It ignores the fact that the people who attend Kol Echad have not severed their connection to the synagogue and that they make no claim on the propriety of fellow synagogue members' actions and motivations. It is unfortunate that spiritual striving is something that too many Modern Orthodox people pay lip service to but do not actually respect in action. We need to develop hard shells so that we can act with integrity.
5. Stay involved in the community. I will continue to stay involved in my synagogue. I pay my dues, I donate time and money and participate in events. Why should I allow myself to be marginalized? But I will continue to work with others to create an Orthodox environment in which men and women can pray together to the full extent possible within halacha.
Will the rabbi's talk impact our partnership minyan? Most likely not but if it makes us look at ourselves more critically and strengthens our resolve to be more fully engaged in Jewish ritual and study, it will have been a good thing.
Audrey Trachtman is interim executive director of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance.
Have a great weekend and holiday, everybody.
Helen Chernikoff
Web Editor
The Arts
A darkly funny Holocaust play is based on a true story. Fotolia
Precious Stones
A Holocaust-themed play, with diamonds.
Ted Merwin - Special To The Jewish Week
Many Holocaust survivors have harrowing tales of persevering against the odds. But in few such stories does courage shine through in quite the same way as in Carrie Robbins’ multifaceted play, “The Diamond Eater,” about a jeweler who swallows his precious stones in order to retrieve them later for barter.
The one-act drama, which has been polished by the playwright since it was first read at La MaMa in 2012, opens this weekend at the HERE Arts Center in Soho, along with “Sawbones,” also by Robbins, about a Civil War soldier who needs an amputation from a Northern doctor.
“The Diamond Eater,” directed by Tazewell Thompson, is based on a story by Robbins’ late husband, R.D. Robbins, a colorectal surgeon turned short story writer. In the tale, which is based on a true story told to him by one of his patients, a Jewish doctor (Timothy Roselle) in a concentration camp is forced by the Nazis to transplant the kidney of a Roma into that of a Jew (Eric Kuttner).
When the doctor opens up the Jew’s body, he is stunned to find diamonds inside. The physician and patient collude with each other to outwit the Nazis; the doctor sews the diamonds into a natural cavity inside the jeweler’s body.
Decades after the Holocaust, the real-life jeweler showed up at Dr. Robbins’ proctology office in Manhattan, complaining of terrible pain.
Carrie Robbins is a renowned costume designer; she has worked on more than 30 Broadway shows, including “Agnes of God” and “Yentl.” She grew up in Baltimore, where she evinced a talent for drawing at an early age.
“My father told me that the Nazis had valued portrait artists,” she recalled. “So I could save us if a knock ever came on the door.” After earning degrees in both art and theater from Penn State, she went on the Yale School of Drama.
“Writing is, for me, just another form of storytelling,” she reflected. “It’s an expansion of what I always did — with fabric, shoes, makeup, wigs, and jewelry — to bring a character to life.” In “Diamond Eater,” she noted, “You see the desperation of someone to survive, as illustrated through the battle that he literally waged within himself.”
The sharp-edged but black humor of the piece has a decidedly Jewish flavor. For example, the main character starts with 17 stones, but some get lost over time, leaving him with only 10. “When he swallows the 10th one, he calls it a full meal,” Robbins said. “This kind of humor is absolutely indigenous to Jewish people. Jews can find humor in the bleakest situations.”
“The Diamond Eater” and “Sawbones” run at HERE, 145 Sixth Ave. Performances are Wednesdays at 2 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. For tickets, $18, call (212) 352-3101 or visit www.here.org.
Israeli Real Estate and Investments, a very special issue.
Read about the opportunities to invest and purchase a residences in Israel in these articles.The New Israeli Riviera, Bat Yam
Living In Israel, Working In The U.S.
Israel's Luxe Boom
For more, click here.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/luxury-homes-and-investment-israel/luxury-homes-investment-israel-may-2014
THE POLITICAL INSIDER | THE ROSENBLOG | THE NEW NORMAL | A COMIC'S JOURNEY | WELL VERSED
POLITICAL INSIDER
Peace Process? What Peace Process? by Douglas Bloomfield
If you’re wondering what President Obama plans to do next about peace between Israel and the Palestinians just read his West Point speech this week.
Nothing. He didn’t mention it once.
He only mentioned Israel twice and then in reference to other issues – Egypt’s peace treaty and Iran’s nuclear ambitions – and the Palestinians not at all.
His 5,066-word graduation address to cadets at the military academy was billed as a major foreign policy message. He mentioned numerous conflicts around the globe, including in Syria (10 times), Ukraine, Central African Republic, South China Sea, Afghanistan and Nigeria. The word “peace” or a variation of it came up 13 times but none in reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What does that mean? It should be obvious. The President’s heart was never really in his secretary of state’s energetic drive to bring the two reluctant sides together, and when it collapsed – as everyone except possibly John Kerry himself – expected, the administration has decided to move on to other more pressing issues.
The Kerry initiative collapsed in the wake of moves by both sides that looked a lot like they were intended to scuttle the talks and blame the other side for their failure. Neither side has shown much interest – beyond rhetorical, and that was only to please the Americans -- in going back to the table.
This week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is announcing the makeup of his Fatah-Hamas unity government. There is no way Israel would negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes the Gaza-based terrorist organization, and there’s no way the United States would press it to do so.
Obama’s non-spoken message at West Point was clear: any peace process will have to wait for new leaders all the way around. Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu aren’t really interested, and if they aren’t neither is Barack Obama.
NEW NORMAL
OHEL Takes Fundraising To A New Height by Jeremy Pasternak
Last Tuesday, May 20th, eighty-one friends and supports of OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services raised a minimum of $1,000 each to rappel 20 stories over the side of the Heritage Capital Group building in Newark, New Jersey. All proceeds will help children with developmental disabilities attend camp.
For such an endeavor, finding a willing partner in a building owner can understandably be a challenge. OHEL was fortunate to find two big hearts in Steve Greenberg and Jeff Greenberg, owners of the Heritage Capital Group, and their staff.
OHEL was blessed with a gorgeous sunny day. Sunburn was the only weather concern.
A large crowd of family, supporters and inquiring minds began to gather early on at the base of the building to watch. Two local police cars kept the controls throughout the day – and even engaged in some humor, jokingly giving one participant a "ticket" for “texting while rappelling.”
As the rapellers started to descend, onlookers cheered and shouted words of encouragement. And as each rappeller cautiously stepped off the ledge of the roof, the crowd broke into raucous applause as they touched down to the safety of the sidewalk after their nerve-wracking 20 story descent.
“That was incredible!” said Dave, a first-time rapeller: “I can’t believe I just did that!” Marc Blumenfrucht, a staunch supporter of OHEL and Board Member of OHEL’s Camp Kaylie, commented after completing his descent, "I used to work in this building, and I could not miss the opportunity to rappel off of it!”
While participants had different motivators to overcome the fear of going over the edge, they all embraced an incredible day of activity to help an incredible organization. Robert Katz, OHEL’s chief development officer, found the match between Over the Edge and OHEL perfectly symbolic. “OHEL helps thousands of people every year overcome their fears and challenges. At this event, we watched people overcome challenges for only 20 minutes. Our clients have challenges 24/7. This was an eye-opening experience.”
“This event took extreme sports to a new level of excitement,” said Laurie Szenicer, OHEL’s senior development coordinator, who organized this event.
Since 1969, OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services has served as a dependable haven of individual and family support, helping people of all ages effectively manage disability, surmount everyday challenges, heal from trauma, and manage with strength and dignity during times of crises.
For more information about how you can get involved with Team OHEL, and participate in their next activity, like a marathon or triathalon, contact Laurie Szenicer or visit www.ohelfamily.org
Food & Wine
Courtesy of Nefesh B'Nefesh
Breaking Records In Tel Aviv
World's largest Shabbat dinner to take place in the White City next month.
Lauren Rothman - Food and Wine editor
On the evening of Friday, June 13th, a diverse group of Jews will gather together at sunset to break bread and celebrate Shabbat. There will be baked chicken, fluffy rice, and steaming-hot potatoes, as well as elegantly braided challahs and plenty of wine.
Sounds pretty ordinary, doesn’t it? But this Shabbat dinner will be far from business as usual. It will take place in a hangar, the better to accommodate the thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of revelers who plan to attend. The location? Tel Aviv, whose international reputation will attract an extraordinarily diverse and far-flung group of guests.
This is the World’s Largest Shabbat Dinner, a record-setting gala thrown by White City Shabbat, a member organization of ROI Community that hosts monthly, all-inclusive Shabbat dinners in Tel Aviv. Having served more than 10,000 dinners since 2008, the group knows something about feeding a crowd, and this year to open its doors to, well, anyone at all who wants to come, thereby setting the first Guinness Book of World Records milestone for largest Shabbat dinner. Diners, who will hail from all over the world, will attend for free.
In order to fund this massive event, organizers turned to crowdsourcing, using the site IndieGoGo to raise over $26,000.
“The crowdsourcing campaign was a way for Jews and friends all over the world to get involved in this project, to feel a part of the history we are making here in Tel Aviv,” said Natalie Solomon, a ROI Community member who helped organize the event. “We hope their involvement with the project has inspired them to seek Shabbat and Jewish unity in their own communities.”
Encouraging community participation is both the inspiration for the World’s Largest Shabbat Dinner as well as the goal at the heart of it.
“We were discussing one of greatest challenges facing Israeli society today: our lack of unity as one, or Am Yisrael Echad,” Solomon said. “And we thought, ‘wouldn't it be crazy if we brought together thousands of Jews, from all along the Jewish spectrum, here to our home in Tel Aviv to celebrate Shabbat together?’ Well it is crazy, and we are doing it!”
When organizers extended the invitation to Jews around the world, they hoped for global participation, Solomon said, but could not have predicted the stunning diversity of the RSVPs they received.
“The crowd will be as diverse a crowd of Jews as have ever come together: we’ve advertised the event in Hebrew, English, French and Russian,” she said. “We have guests from Rio de Janeiro and Rehovot, Birmingham, Alabama and Jerusalem, Minsk and Montreal, and of course many from the New York area.”
Solomon added that in addition representing international diversity, the Shabbat dinner guests will also come from all walks of life.
“We have young and old, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, different socioeconomic backgrounds, Israeli Sabras and Olim Chadashim, foreign visitors and tourists, government officials and community leaders—all sitting, drinking, and eating together at the Shabbat table,” she said.
The certified kosher, catered meal will offer traditional Ashekenazi favorites, as well as a spread of Israeli satatim to pay homage to its host city. Wine, provided by Golan Heights Winery, will flow freely. After all, there’s nothing more effective at bringing together a group of Jews than a hearty, comforting meal.
“We know that Shabbat is a tremendous gift that all Jews were given,” Solomon said. “By coming together in this uniquely Jewish way—at the Shabbat dinner table—we affirm our oneness and commitment to Am Yisrael.”
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