Hanukkah is just around the corner. Let the gift shopping begin.
Leah Koneg at The Jew and the Carrot has put together some fun, eco-friendly gift ideas ranging from a stylish compost keeper (yes, such a thing exists) to fair-trade Hanukkah gelt.

A few years ago, signs began popping up around Tel Aviv and beyond advertising a new delicacy: sabich. This savory combination of fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, Israeli salad, and assorted condiments is stuffed into a pita and drizzled with tahini sauce and amba, a mango pickle similar to the chutneys found in Indian cuisine. […]

The Jerusalem Post reports:
Reform and Conservative synagogues reek of hell [Gehinom] and a Jew should not even come near their entrance, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu said last week.
“Once I was invited to be the sandak (godfather) at a brit in a three-story building,” recounted Eliyahu in his weekly flyer called Kol […]

So a few weeks back, philanthropist Charles Bronfman decides to start a contest to find the next “Big Idea” in Judaism. The winner needs to “produce a major work in the English language that aims to change the way Jews think about themselves and their community.” He or she will received a two-year professorship at […]

A few weeks ago, we were flattered to receive this message:
Please stop airing the commercial ordering people to watch the new season of the Sarah Silverman show, “Or I’ll kill my dog.” As we had to euthanize our 14-year old golden retriever on Friday, we do NOT find this commercial even remotely humorous. Our dog […]

MJL recently got an interesting email from a woman designing a line of modest swimwear. Thought I’d share:
Shalom…I am the designer and manufacturer of an original line of kosher swimwear and cover-ups-called AQUA MODESTA. Baruch Hashem, the line is in accordance with Jewish halachot of modesty as well as fashionable and functional. Now the Jewish […]

Red strings are so five minutes ago. FAO Schwartz is now carrying Kabbalistic Beasties, stuffed animals based on amulets that were once hung over children’s beds for protection. The idea was discovered at a toy audition last year when artist and sculptor Ken Goldman pitched the dolls. The names of the creatures–Sanoi, Sansoni, and Samonglif–derive […]

-Ron Wolfson says that you should make “God’s To-Do List” your To-Do list. Literally: “Compile. Keep track. Make lists. Itemize… Revisit, revise, refresh.” (Jewish Journal)
-”Does our prayer book really need to be consistent with our theology? Must we believe the words we recite in their most literal sense? Is our prayer book a catechism of […]

While Daniel was at the GA, I was at another, lesser-known Jewish conference. Kivun, a project of the Center for Leadership Initiatives with the assistance of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, invited about 30 staff members from Schusterman grantees to network and address the challenges of being a 20-something in Jewish communal life. […]

Every hero needs a villain. Superman has Lex Luthor, Harry Potter has Voldemort, Holmes has Moriarty. And in all the great stories, the really mythic ones, the hero is usually disturbingly similar to the villain. It’s like the protagonist and antagonist are peering into a funhouse mirror when they look at each other…and they’re both […]