Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Antonio Brown has been among the most talented NFL players of the last decade. He is a well-known entity famous for his excellent play and antics on the field. Currently, he is busy with his off-the-field ventures. AB has entered the music industry, and it has been going well for him.

He has made a fortune in his NFL career. Moreover, AB has been involved in many businesses and owns many beautiful properties. In 2016, long before his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he purchased a magnificent mansion in Florida.

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Antonio never shies away from spending massive money on good projects. It was visible when he spent around 33% of his total net worth on this mansion in Florida.

According to a source, the mansion cost around $6.6 million. The estate spreads over 18,000 square feet. There are 12-bedrooms, and a 14-bathroom abode comes with gold paneling in just about every room.

The mansion is about 20-miles away from Miami. The manor consists of a custom outdoor kitchen, a wet bar, and a sprawling saltwater pool. It also has custom doors, ceilings, Italian marble floors, and world-class finishes. It has its own synagogue.

Talking about the synagogue, AB said, I got a lot of Jewish friends, and a synagogue is where you bless up. His mansion deserves every amount that he paid for it. Moreover, it is a long-term investment, as its value will only increase with time.

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According to Celebrity Net Worth, Antonio Brown has a net worth of $20 million. He has made around $77 million through his NFL contracts. In 2017, the Steelers made him the highest-paid WR in the league. As a result, he has amassed considerable wealth from the game.

Since his incident on the field in the game against the New York Jets, he has been out of the league. So far, no team has shown interest in bringing him back. AB is still recovering from the injuries he suffered last season, and once he gets healthy, we might see him back on the field.

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Watch This Story: Newly Weds Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Matthews Announce 2nd Pregnancy With Baby Sterling In Adorable Fashion

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Antonio Brown, With Net Worth of $20 Million, Owns This Magnificent Mansion in Florida That Cost Him 33 Percent of His Total Wealth -...

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

AYODEJI A. ADEDARA

I first met the late T.B. Joshua one Thursday evening in either September or October 2018. At that time, Emmanuel TV was in need of English language experts to support the international studio team in their quite demanding work of laying text on materials for broadcast. T.B. Joshua gave the message to a top Lagos-based journalist, who promptly contacted my then head of department. About four hours after being made the offer at the University of Lagos, I was sitting in close proximity to T.B. Joshua in a living room at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun, Lagos.

T.B. Joshua was indeed a man without airs. He had come in wearing a T-shirt and combat shorts extending way over the knees, engaging me in light-hearted conversation as he sat down. He asked an aide to show me a mobile phone video of an ongoing project in Israel. When I was leaving the country the last time, he told me, airport officials did not clear me until somebody from the presidency had spoken with me and received assurances that I was not relocating. He later asked, Have you read the Bible? I said I was familiar with virtually all Bible stories as a former Deeper Lifer! Thats good, he replied. Then we discussed a bit of national politics before he handed us sizeable parcels and told his aides to get my number.

Two days later, he asked me over again and this time I met him in his main officea busy place indeed. A few questions after, the days meeting was done and he handed me another sizeable parcel. Could he please pray for me? With a warm, understanding smile, he told me there would be time for that later. I pushed again. Dont worry, he assured me. I bowed in gratitude and made for the door, both of us being already on our feet at this time.

There was a break of about a month or less, but I remember that by December 2018 I had become a fairly regular face in the studio. A week or two before Christmas, T.B. Joshua gave me two bags of rice and a parcel that was three times the size of what he had now given me at least three times previously. It is a testimony to the humanism of T.B. Joshua that, although the focus of this article is not his financial generosity towards me and countless others, it is impossible for anybody who ever had engagements with him not to notice his incurable openhandedness. To the extremely hard-working, go-getting T.B. Joshua, money was never an object to crave in itself but something with which to run material life for the benefit of all. Therefore, the first lesson I learned from him is never to look down on anybody in need but to help out cheerfully whenever one can. As he always said, Somebody somewhere is in desperate need of what is in your hands.

The second lesson from my brief but deeply impactful interactions with T.B. Joshua is never to judge media-exposed people without having personally encountered them. In the course of interacting with T.B. Joshua, I realised that media portrayal of newsmakers can often be wilfully malicious, especially when engineered by respected, influential authority figures. In T.B. Joshuas case, perhaps because of his limited formal education, the unconventional way in which he launched out without a so-called father figure in ministry, the exceptional grace that saw him commanding extensive internal attention within a relatively short period of time and the early media manipulation of his public image, it was easy for more established clergy to sell falsehood to members of the conventional church about him and his ministry. Yet, even if I was not there in those early days, I daresay that it would have taken very little effort for any objective person to reach the conclusion that T.B. Joshua was indeed a man favoured by God Almightygiven his personal growth trajectory and the expansion and impact of his ministry.

Although those who like to fancy themselves as spiritually deep may be quick to dismiss me as ignorant, undiscerning, I do not hesitate to declare that around T.B. Joshua I saw nothing but light and continue to see nothing but light in The Synagogue. As someone with exposure to philosophical scepticism leading to some sort of objective detachment from spiritual claimsI have been calling myself a Critical Christian since 2009, for example, at times viewing the Bible as a historico-cultural document which cannot help but take sidesthis declaration must come as a surprise to those who knew my views on such matters at least 15 years ago. In the life and legacy of T.B. Joshua, all I see is that a determined person who is destined to be great will always attain phenomenal success if they strive as if it all depends on them and pray as if it all depends on God. Indeed, I believe those who have benefitted most from the grace that is upon The T.B. Joshua Ministries have been the ignorant, that is, people who keep an open mind when encountering those more spiritually evolved than they could, perhaps, ever be.

And so, when I hear some self-assured Nigerians dismiss miracles at The Synagogue as a hoax, I often wonder at the level of hubris that makes them believe they are so superior in spiritual knowledge to the hundreds of thousands from across the continents whose lives were transformed by virtue of their encounter with T.B. Joshua and his ministry. Leaving aside the physical miracles for a moment, how about the deep changes that have occurred in people: the addicts who overcame their fleshly desires, the demon-possessed who embraced God, the pitiably poor who entered into permanent prosperity through divine grace, the husbands or wives who returned home and pled for forgiveness, the depressed who found limitless happiness and endless hope, the children who tearfully apologised to parents for their former wayward lifestyle, the criminals who turned to God so they could better the lot of humanity, and so on and so forth? I would like true Christians to consider these questions: Is it possible to cast out devils with devils while calling the name of God? Is it possible for darkness to produce lightI mean in the form of the positive changes that have been experienced by thousands of people of all races and creeds across the world, after open-mindedly receiving the message of salvation, love, compassion, charity and forgiveness that T.B. Joshua preached throughout his life?

Many more are the lessons from my encounter with T.B. Joshua, as well as his acts of unforgettable generosity towards me, but there is not enough space to recount them here. As I close this article, I would like to quote one of T.B. Joshuas most impactful sayings: The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are but on how happy others can be because of you. Nothing else beats that in the practice of Christianityor any other religion, for that matter!

Rest on, Gods servant T.B. Joshua (June 12, 1963 June 5, 2021). Only your Creator knows why He let you face such persecution and vilification from fellow Christians who should have known better.

Adedara (PhD) wrote in from the department of English, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos.

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Remembering TB Joshua: A personal testimony of warmth, compassion and industry - TheCable

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Despite what the braying anti-Roe Right wants you to think, America is not pro-life.

This country is pro-death.

Fetuses and firearms: thats what makes America America that and the ability of an 18 year-old to buy military grade weapons.

At least 21 shot dead in Uvalde, Texas; 10 shot dead in Buffalo, N.Y.; a total so far of 69 killed and 260 injured in mass shootings since May 1.

Republicans offer the usual thoughts and prayers thoughts that theres no way in hell theyll countenance any restrictions on gun ownership and prayers that the NRA doesnt lose its status as a tax-exempt charitable organization.

Theyd hate to lose those rabid gun voters and those sweet campaign contributions.

Besides, protecting the Second Amendment matters more than protecting people who obstinately stray into the path of bullets. Nineteen dead kids apparently are an acceptable sacrifice on the altar of gun worship.

In the theology of heat-packing, God gives Americans the right to buy any gun they like, carry it without a permit or any training (as is the law in Texas), keep it loaded lying around in the house, and brandish it anywhere at any time for any reason.

I cant seem to find this in scripture, but perhaps the barrel-polishers have received a revelation unavailable to the rest of us.

The Uvalde children, the Sandy Hook children, the Black folks who died at the Tops grocery store, the high school kids who died at Columbine, Oxford Township, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue and Emmanuel AME church thats sad, but theres nothing we can do, right?

Or, as the May 25 Onion headlined all 21 of its stories: No Way to Prevent This, Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.

President Joe Biden, who knows the anguish of having to bury your own kid, said: To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. Theres a hollowness in your chest, and you feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

Biden then asked an essential question: What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? Deer arent running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for Gods sake.

It took a solid 30 seconds for the most morally challenged of our elected leaders to post clueless rubbish like this, from Sen. Rick Scott: The violence must end. We are praying for all of the victims.

Rick Scott holds an A+ rating from the NRA.

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona tweeted, then under an avalanche of derision deleted, the nonsensical charge that the shooter was a transsexual leftist illegal alien.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz piously offered to lift up the Uvalde families in prayer while suggesting that school shootings could be solved by arming teachers.

On the other side of the aisle, many members of Congress didnt bother to be diplomatic. Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego tweeted back: Just to be clear, fk you @tedcruz.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quoted the Book of James at Cancun Ted: Faith without works is dead, adding, Arent you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days in Houston, no less?

Indeed, he is, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (who decided to appear on video, not in person, as if that somehow makes collusion with the Death Cult OK), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and a twice-impeached former president.

This years NRA convention boasts 14 acres of the latest guns and gear and an all-you-can-eat buffet of corruption.

You might remember that the NRA also went ahead with its 1999 jamboree in Denver a mere two days after the massacre a few miles away at Columbine.

The NRA actually hesitated for a moment, knowing that the optics in Colorado werent great, celebrating guns while the funerals of teenagers were all over the news, but Floridas own Marion Hammer, former NRA president and soul-dead ghoul, insisted that, if they cancelled the convention, people would say, the NRA was brought to its knees, and the media will have a field day with it.

Florida Republicans revel in callousness and spite, as amply evidenced by the reliably offensive Rep. Randy Fine, who skipped over the thoughts and prayers part, tweeting: I have news for the embarrassment that claims to be our president try to take our guns and youll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place.

Memo to Rep. Fine: You just threatened the president of the United States, a felony. I look forward to hearing about your forthcoming date with the Secret Service.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, as yet unable to calculate how he might use the slaughter of children to his political advantage, has not even bothered to express condolences.

White America is scared of this nations changing demographics and growing tolerance of difference. So, their Republican enablers ban books and police womens bodies, but never regulate guns.

Guns make these paranoid, weak, little people feel powerful. When a British reporter questioned Ted Cruz about why the U.S. is the only country where mass shootings happen, asking if this is an example of that vaunted American Exceptionalism, Cruz huffed that the Democrats and the media always want to bring in politics, then flounced off.

Congress cant do much about our national psychosis, given the Republicans veto power. Our only chance is to vote them out insofar as were still allowed to vote and challenge these cowards.

Former congressman and current Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke did just that, confronting Gov. Abbott at a press conference laden with right-wing politicos and silly looking law men in oversized hats: The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing, he said. Youre offering us nothing.

Ted Cruz yelled at ORourke to sit down. The Republican mayor of Uvalde called him a sick son of a bitch.

As the white guys pitched a hissy fit, demanding ORourke be removed, he pointed at Abbott. This is on you, he said.

On Abbott, on Ted Cruz, on Rick Scott, on Ron DeSantis, on Mitch McConnell, on Donald Trump, on every single official who refuses to do anything about Americas killing fields.

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As the nation's body count continues to mount, the NRA and its acolytes party on - Florida Phoenix

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

This Sunday, June 5, 2022, is a major festival/feast day in the Western Church, known as Pentecost or Whitsunday, but the celebration of that day naturally derives from Judaism, where it was originally celebrated as a harvest festival known as Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks.

This was celebrated fifty days (pente) after the first day of Passover. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. the emphasis changed to the Israelites receiving the Torah. It should be noted that Shavuot was a major feast in Judaism and observant Jews were expected to travel to Jerusalem in observance of the feast.

This helps us understand why the Holy Spirit would descend upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem a scant 10 days after His ascension into heaven. Jerusalem would be filled with Jewish people from around the Diaspora, and there would be people from every area in the Mediterranean basin where the Jews had settled. The followers of Jesus Christ had remained in Jerusalem awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus, when He promised His followers that He would not leave them without a Holy Comforter.

They were fearful, knowing that they might be hunted down for being followers of The Way, literally huddled in place in the Upper Room when there came a sound like that of a violent rush of wind which filled the entire room and then divided tongues of fire appeared and rested upon each one of them.

Then the uneducated men and women in the room began to speak in known languages, each of which could be understood by the Jewish visitors to Jerusalem in their native tongues, and they were proclaiming Gods deeds of power.

St. Peter began to address the visitors to Jerusalem and to let them know of the fulfillment of prophecy from the Prophet Joel, when he said that, In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (NRSV, Acts of the Apostles 2: 17-19).

As a result of St. Peters addressing the skeptical crowd close to three thousand persons were baptized, professing their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

What is the effect of this baptism upon thousands of people those two thousand years ago? Fulfillment of prophecy is of utmost priority in that the coming of the Holy Spirit came to pass exactly as Jesus had promised His disciples.

The gift of the Spirit was not for the few, but for all who believed on Him and His promises to us. It mattered not whether one was male or female, Greek or Jew, educated or uneducated. This was the birthday of the Church for all who place their faith in Him, and a final ending from the Prophet Joel, when he stated, Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (NRSV, Acts of the Apostles 2: 21).

As you prepare for Pentecost Sunday this week, consider wearing the color red to remind us of the tongues of fire that descended upon those early disciples as they knew that they must go into the world to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They laid down their lives in order that we might continue to continue as the Body of Christ, the Church.

The Rev. Bain White is the priest/pastor at St. Marks Church of Grace in Craig. He may be reached at office@stmarksepiscopal-lcog.org.

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Faith: As you prepare for Pentecost Sunday, remember the early disciples - Craig Press

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Bradley Cooper's transformation to portray legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the film Maestro has sparked praise onlineand criticism from those who believe a Jewish man should have been cast in the role.

Streaming giant Netflix, which will be releasing the movie, shared first look photos on Twitter on Monday of Cooper as Bernstein, showing the actor looking unrecognizable thanks to the help of makeup to make him appear significantly older.

Cooper, who is also directing the project, also appeared to have slightly darker skin in the images, while one feature that stood out was the prosthetic nose he was pictured sporting in a bid to further resemble Bernstein.

While there was much praise on Twitter for Cooper's transformation for the film, which started shooting earlier in May, many others asked why the role could not have been given to a Jewish actor, given Bernstein's own background.

Responding to Netflix's photos, which also showed Carey Mulligan in character as Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre, Daniel Fienberg, who serves as Chief Television Critic for The Hollywood Reporter, accused the stars of "ethnic cosplay."

"Sigh," tweeted Fienberg. "My question, 'How many pounds of latex would it take to make Bradley Cooper into an elderly Jewish man?' was supposed to be rhetorical.

"The answer, BTW, is 'Enough latex that somebody should probably find it a hair problematic.'"

Fienberg added in a follow-up tweet: "My critiquing of Bradley Cooper converting to Latex Judaism caused me to fail to even notice Carey Mulligan as Leonard Bernstein's first wife, who was Chilean-Jewish. That's a LOT of ethnic cosplay for one movie."

Montealegre, who passed away in 1978, was raised Catholic, later converting to Judaism after marrying Bernstein in 1951, per Meryle Secrest's 1994 biography Leonard Bernstein: A Life.

A number of other Twitter users chimed in on the matter, with one saying: "anybody else weirded out by bradley cooper donning enormous [amounts] of makeup and prosthetics to pretend to be an elderly jewish man? surely there are elderly jewish actors that could've played that role?"

Said another: "Instead of radically transforming Bradley Cooper through prosthetics, why not just hire an actual older Jewish man?"

Echoing the sentiment, another wrote: "Something about casting Bradley Cooper to play a famous Jewish man and giving him that prosthetic nose is not sitting right with me at all... it's giving Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone."

Newsweek has reached out ot representatives of Cooper and Netflix for comment.

Bernstein, who wrote the score for West Side Story, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1918 to Russian Jewish immigrants.

He was the youngest conductor ever to lead the New York Philharmonic, in addition to being the first U.S. conductor to rise to international fame, leading a 1953 performance of Medea at Italy's renowned opera house, La Scala.

The celebrated composer passed away on October 14, 1990, aged 72,

As well as Cooper and Mulligan, Maestro will also feature Succession actor Jeremy Strong as journalist and biographer John Gruen. A release date is yet to be announced.

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Bradley Cooper Accused of 'Ethnic Cosplay' Over Leonard Bernstein Role - Newsweek

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

COLUMBUS, Ohio Right before Pride Month begins, Ohio legislators testified in support of their bill that would ban schools from teaching "divisive concepts," including sexuality and gender, which is referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

House Bill 616 states that no school district, community school, STEM school, nonpublic school that enrolls students who are participating in a state scholarship program, or any employee or other third party representing a school district or school can teach any divisive or inherently racist concepts. That includes all of the critical race theory, intersectional theory, the 1619 project, diversity, equity, and inclusion learning outcomes and inherited racial guilt. The next section of the bill touches on sexuality and gender identity.

In a packed committee hearing room, Republican state Reps. Jean Schmidt, from Loveland, and Mike Loychik, from Bazetta, gave testimony about how schools should teach their children.

To be clear, neither of the two has ever worked in education.

RELATED: House Republicans introduce Ohio's version of Floridas 'Dont Say Gay' bill

"This bill is designed to protect parental rights and protect children from indoctrination," Loychik said.

Among the majority opponents of the bill in the room sat Cynthia Peeples, the founding director of Honesty for Ohio Education. The bipartisan organization has been fighting against censorship bills, and this is the third one it has had to rally against this Legislature, she said.

"This bill is an instrument to perpetuate hate, racism, homophobia and transphobia, antisemitism, xenophobia," she listed off, gesturing her hands when saying antisemitism.

News 5 aired an exclusive report about comments made by one of the primary sponsors of the original divisive concepts bill H.B. 327. The report stemmed from an interview exchange between state Representative Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula) and a News 5 reporter Morgan Trau in early March.

RELATED: Comments about the Holocaust from representative sponsoring 'divisive concepts' bill raise concerns

During the interview, Fowler Arthur was asked about the financial aspect of the bill. While attempting to talk about funding, she brought up the Holocaust, saying that students needed to hear the massacre from the perspective of the "German soldiers."

After the exclusive News 5 story on House Bill 327's sponsor's comments on the Holocaust went international, lawmakers are trying a new way to regulate what is being taught in schools.

"This bill will ensure that the classroom is a place of learning, not a place of biased, political talking points," Schmidt said.

Teaching those topics isn't biased or relying on political talking points, it is just history, Peeples said.

Maria Bruno with Equality Ohio pointed out that the bill is extremely unclear, since it outright bans the topics for up through third grade, but it is unclear what happens after that.

"The 'Don't Say Gay, Don't Mention Race" bill it is very expansive in what it tries to ban and very ambiguous and what it tries to ban," Bruno added.

Even the bill sponsors didnt have that answer.

In a heated exchange, state Rep. Mike Skindell, a Democrat from Lakewood, tried his best to figure out the logistics of the bill. There are no definitions in the bill on what is divisive, which he, as a lawyer, said was essential.

"State Board of Education will define what is racially inherent, what is diversity," Schmidt said.

That isn't good enough, according to Skindell and other Democrats.

"That's the problem with this bill is you want the State Board of Education to define that that's the job of legislators to define these concepts if you're going to put them forward," Skindell said. "Why would we rely upon an unelected body, well part of them unelected body, to do that? That's our responsibility as legislators to define that, and the problem is in this bill there are a whole slew of things that can fall within the definitions of these things."

Why wouldn't the lawmakers that wrote the bills be defining them, the Democrat asked ? He was interrupted by committee Chair Scott Wiggam, a Republican from Wayne County.

"This is something that you'd be willing, if we need to, zero in and redefine that," Wiggam said. "I mean, you'd be willing to do that I think that that's probably a conversation that we're we should be having "

"We are having it right now, Mr. Chair, without you interrupting my question," Skindell interrupted. "Thank you."

Bill supporters, like Mission Americas Linda Harvey, said we need to hear both sides of the issue.

"It's a very powerful political movement," Harvey said, referring to being part of the LGBTQ+ community. "And to have it be influencing our public schools to the point where there's one viewpoint and you're telling younger and younger children this is acceptable, is not fair."

There is no "gay agenda," Bruno laughed.

"People are finally able to be their true selves and be honest about who they are and how they identify," she said. "It seems more present because that's what it means to have actual visibility and representation."

For some supporters, like Harvey, it all comes down to one thing: religion.

"Elementary, early elementary grades are being told during the Pride Month to celebrate Pride and what that all means," Harvey said. "Well, pride in what? You know there are an awful lot of traditional families that do not believe these lifestyles are moral, nor are they necessary."

Those comments are ridiculous, Bruno added.

"The last I heard, our public schools are supposed to not have religion injected into them, so I think the idea that someone's religion might be confronted through the normal course of business of acknowledging the existence of their peers, you know, that's for them to work out with God," the advocate said. "But for the sake of this bill, someone's individual religious expression has no place being the rule of the land."

Harvey said that learning about LGBTQ+ people, emphasizing trans individuals, is "unsettling" and "violates nondiscrimination laws" because there are religious families that would say this is "totally inappropriate." She then listed off Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

However, Jews in the U.S. are majority politically liberal, especially with social issues, according to Pew Research Center. Many national Jewish groups passed resolutions as early as 1977 that urged for equal rights, same-sex marriage and have welcomed transgender individuals, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Reform, as well as Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism, all support LGBTQ+ rights.

"There are a lot of religious communities that will feel attacked by this maybe we do still have conversations about Christianity, but are we allowed to have them about Buddhism or about Judaism?" Bruno asked.

Even so, many Christian and Muslim individuals support LGBTQ+ rights, according to Catholics for Choice.

"There is no traditional family anymore we all love in different ways," Peeples said. "All of our families look uniquely different."

The bill wont be heard again until next fall when supporters and opponents will get to testify in front of the committee.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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Lawmakers hear Ohio's version of Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill - News 5 Cleveland WEWS

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

New York Jewish Week Rabbi Rebecca Keren Eisenstadt lives in a one-bedroom apartment on Second Avenue on the Upper East Side, but she feels just as at home in the penthouses just a few blocks away on Park Avenue.

Most afternoons, Eisenstadt and her shih-poo, Scout, can be found shuttling between the Upper East Side homes of her 40 tween students or Jewdents, as she calls them as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvahs. On the weekends, you might spot her on social media, where she goes by @myhotrabbi and frequently posts selfies from her clients lavish parties. And soon, she hopes, youll find her on TV, thanks to Reese Witherspoons media company, which is making a documentary series about her life as a single rabbi looking for love.

One place Eisenstadt cant usually be found is at a synagogue. And thats by design. Eisenstadt known as Rabbi Becky to most is building a brand for herself based on the fact that many Jews feel disconnected from, or left behind by, the traditional centerpiece of American Judaism.

Instead of a pulpit, Eisenstadt is a private rabbi-for-hire for dozens of New York City families, mostly on the affluent Upper East Side. Her clients are the types of people who are used to having things done their way, on their own time and thats true even when it comes to Jewish learning and lifecycle events.

Especially with successful New Yorkers, they feel like they own the city, Eisenstadt said. They dont want to feel like theyre a number on a waitlist.

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If synagogues are mass transit, Eisenstadt is Uber: Her services are bespoke, personalized and on-demand. She customizes her clients prayer books, tailors their bar or bat mitzvah services and plans families trips to Israel. Shes overseen spiritual ceremonies at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and also an over-the-top party at Brooklyns Barclays Center where rapper Pitbull performed.

Becky is basically a legend, said Erica Copulsky, who hired Eisenstadt to help both her children prepare for Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies. They first met in 2018, when the Copulskys hired Eisenstadt to supplement the instruction their son got at Temple Emanu-El before his bar mitzvah.

Temple Emanu-El is probably one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world. Its gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, beautiful music, beautiful everything. But its a huge room. Its overwhelming. No matter how many friends you have, theres no warmth thats just not what it is, Copulsky said. Though everything at her sons bar mitzvah went smoothly, Copulsky still felt like Eisenstadt, the external tutor, was the only person who really guided and got to know her son during the process.

When it came time for her daughter to become a bat mitzvah last year, the family no longer belonged to a synagogue like so many other New Yorkers, they had relocated to Florida during the pandemic. So Copulsky turned to Eisenstadt, who tutored her daughter via Zoom and flew down to lead the ceremony.

Rabbi Rebecca Eisenstadt leads a bat mitzvah at The Plaza Hotel in November 2021. (Heidi Green/ via JTA)

Everyone said to me, Cant you find someone locally? Copulsky said. But Becky was our synagogue. Becky was the reason why my daughter wanted a bat mitzvah and she was her connection to New York, her connection to her community, and her connection to Judaism.

Its a role that Eisenstadt embraces. Synagogues, in some cases, have become stale, Eisenstadt said about the demand for her services. Just because you get some glass windows and do a modern renovation, if youre not totally renovating and keeping up and have your finger on the pulse of whats going on with your constituents, then youre going to lose touch.

Shes tutored bar mitzvah students for more than half her life, starting as a teenager in Maryland and continuing through her college years at New York University and as side gigs as she worked in theater, education and at SoulCycle. Now 36 and recently ordained as a rabbi by Mesifta Adas Wolkowsik, a nondenominational seminary for working Jewish professionals, Eisenstadt says she understands what many New York City families want as their children prepare to mark a major Jewish milestone.

All together, shes had more than 700 clients to date. And though she notes that the demand for her services gives her the ability to charge rates comparable to a young lawyer, Eisenstadt says her tutoring is far more than a business transaction.

Its my superpower to become my clients friends or big sisters, or little sisters, she said. Im not just there for an hour. Its not just a transaction. Its not just the High Holidays. Its not even just Shabbat. I integrate myself into peoples lives and try to show how Judaism is integrated into their lives.

Eisenstadts own relationship with Judaism has added some complications to her life. She said she has found it nearly impossible to find people to date who are as religiously observant Eisenstadt keeps kosher and identifies as hipsterdox, a loose Modern Orthodox and dedicated to Judaism as she is, while also being comfortable with her career as a non-denominational rabbi.

Rabbi Rebecca Becky Eisenstadt started bnai mitzvah tutoring in her hometown in Bethesda, Maryland. Twenty years later, shes made it into a mini-empire. (Image by Alex Korolkovas/ via JTA)

That struggle will be a focus of the series being made about her life. The production company has filmed a pilot and is currently trying to find a network to host the show, which will chronicle Eisenstadt looking for love and succeeding as a young, single woman in a mans world, as she puts it. As she guides tweens and their families on spiritual journeys, she also goes on dates, gets her hair blown out and glams up for her clients events.

But beyond the glitz and glamor, Eisenstadts work reflects a serious trend in American Judaism: the shifting of a center of gravity from communal institutions to individual experiences. Even before the pandemic, the majority of American Jews seldom or never set foot inside synagogues, according to the 2020 Pew study but more than half of those people said they expressed their Judaism in other ways, including through life cycle events.

The pandemic, which normalized at-home bar and bat mitzvahs and closed synagogue doors, seems only to have hastened the shift. The most widely-viewed recent depiction of a bar or bat mitzvah in pop culture, on the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That, showed a ceremony that took place entirely outside the confines of a synagogue. (Horrific, Eisenstadt said of the episode, which she thought watered down the potential powerful Jewishness of the ceremony. Everything about it made me cringe.)

Some are skeptical of the trend, arguing that Jews who go it alone are missing out on a crucial dimension of what it means to be Jewish.

Becoming bnai mitzvah is an extraordinary moment of personal achievement for each child and family. It is also an extraordinary moment of celebration for the larger Jewish community in which the Jewish community wants to share, said Emanu-Els senior rabbi, Joshua Davidson. If the celebration is to become more than one moment in time, but rather the beginning of a strengthening connection to Jewish life, the synagogue is a meaningful place to mark it.

Rebecca Keren Eisenstadt is a non-denominational rabbi, and while she keeps Kosher, she describes her observance as hipsterdox. (Alex Korolkovas/ via JTA)

Others are leaning into the shift. At the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Rabbi Lori Forman-Jacobi developed the Jewish Journeys off the Bimah program, now in its 10th year. In the two-year program which costs $10,000 groups of five to seven students learn their Torah portion in English together, prepare a dvar Torah,or sermon, and create a project based on what they learned.

We wanted to create an alternative kind of Jewish educational experience for families who wanted to have a community-based education but not necessarily in a synagogue setting, Forman-Jacobi said. Many of Manhattans Jewish families are not looking for synagogue membership, but still want to mark the occasion.

Eisenstadt wants to be clear that she loves synagogue life. I love every shul I ever walked into. I feel like its a home, she said. She belongs to the Carlebach Shul, an Orthodox congregation on the Upper West Side.

But she said the role she has crafted is needed, especially for children who may not fit into the traditional Hebrew school model for one reason or another.

The institutional Hebrew school learning model is really only geared toward average learning and average attendance, and that doesnt really fit for somebody who has some form of difference, she said.

Rebecca Eisenstadt uses social media to connect with her students and stay on top of their personal lives, often featuring and celebrating them on her account @myhotrabbi or her dogs account @barkmitzvahtutor. (Alex Korolkovas/ via JTA)

About half of her clients are children of divorced parents who may not be able to consistently show up to the same location each week. Many of her students have a learning disability, she added, which Hebrew schools are not always set up to accommodate.

I do look at myself as an entrepreneur, Eisenstadt said. I dont look at myself as a threat. I look at myself as an option towards providing a service that only helps enrich Jewish experiences and perhaps does something that the regular synagogue model has not quite figured out, ceased to do, or that I possibly do better.

As rewarding as she finds her work, without an administrator, cantor or any other colleague to fall back on, the freelance life can be exhausting and lonely. And without a congregation of her own, it can also be difficult to recreate for her students the community feeling one finds in synagogues on holidays, during celebrations and in times of sorrow.

Eisenstadt tries to combat that by inviting her students friends and siblings to join in their lessons.

One recent evening, Eisenstadt invited three of her students to join her at a fundraiser event for the American Friends of the Israeli Navy. The students were thrilled to hang with their rabbi at a Thursday-night soiree at an event space in Midtown Manhattan. Eisenstadts Jewdents may have been the youngest attendees by decades, but with their Prada bags they fit in perfectly.

Maybe it means Im an enabler of that sense of entitlement, but its the world Im working in, Eisenstadt said of her high-end clientele. Im the one whos bringing people to the Jewish experience teaching people how to pray, and facilitating prayer, of learning the texts, relating it to modern day and ushering people through holidays and lifecycle moments.

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This private, on-demand hot rabbi may soon be the star of her own reality TV show - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Almost every Broadway fan has a favorite lyric.Sometimes it's a cleverrhyme or impressive wordplay. Sometimes it's an evocative image created by a series of descriptors. Sometimes, choruses are adopted as philosophies and mantras. Sometimes, it's just a darn funny joke. And sometimes, it changes daily.

And all those favorite lyrics only stand out if they work in sync with the music. A crescendo that makes the emotion of the wordssoar higher. A patter that accentuates an internal rhyme. A button or a pause that gives room for laugh when a joke lands.

This season's Tony nominees for Best Original ScoreFlying Over Sunset, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square, SIX the Musical,andA Strange Loopall have music and lyrics that work in perfect tandem, each creating a memorable and lauded score.

To celebrate those nominated scores, Playbill asked the companies of those five musicalsabout their favorite lyrics from the shows. Read on below as the casts and creative team answer "What's your favorite lyric and why?"

Carmen Cusack, Cast: Clare Boothe Luce

"Not brown and not hazel, they're right in between, Through dark sable lashes, those flashes of green.I've never quite noticed before,Like gleams in a forest I'm drawn to explore."

There are so many moments I can think of but one that really sticks with me is a line that Harry Hadden-Paton sings in Wondrous when he starts to see color again. He is marveling at his wife's eyes describing them in detail while on his trip. This line always gets me.

Michael Korie just blew me away with how he could slice through in a lyric all the color and magic happening onstage. He could take us right into her eyes with such vivid imagery. Such love and romance in that moment.

Harry Hadden-Paton, Cast: Aldous Huxley

When Aldous is struck by the floor of the Rexall drugstore

Its linoleum I should have guessed!It looks like real wood but its linseed oil, pressed..

It is packed with character and tells us so much about Huxley; his intellect, his passion and his enjoyment of discovery. Lyrics like this, and a score that complements them, make an actors job easy

Robert Sella, Cast: Gerald Heard

It is almost impossible to choose one moment, one melody, or one lyric from Flying Over Sunset; the piece is so exquisitely written and composed, and it was my great pleasure to sing some of it and listen to all of it eight times a week. But one piece of the title song holds a special place in my memory: As Clare Booth Luce (brilliantly played by Carmen Cusack) is experiencing her first trip on LSD in the garden of her Connecticut estate, she reels back in her mind to an earlier time in California when she felt desirable, and busy, and powerful. At one point she sings one of my very favorite lyrics:

"Gleaming in the distance, I can suddenly behold-- So much more immense than I've been told--The Pacific in the sunset; bright with gold!"

In this phrase, the warmth and specificity of Michael Korie's lyric, the soulfulness and depth of Tom Kitt's melody, and the gorgeous complexity of Michael Starobin's orchestrations all come together in a moment of thrilling beauty. I could feel the rush of the wind and see the shimmering water. Amazing! I got to stand on stage every night and watch Carmen wonderfully bring this role to life, and this is one moment I'll always remember. It took my breath away every time.

Nehal Joshi, Cast: Dr. Harris/Father

As twilight turns the sky to indigo and violetWith fragrant nightshades in flowerShadows of uneaseSilhouette the trees This is the melancholy hour.

Michele Ragusa, Cast:Austin/Handmaiden

"I was schooled to be mother's best revenge.My success is thanks to her design.But her driving force swelt me up, of course.I lived the life she chose for me - what's left now, is mine."

This lyric always hit home for me because my mother lived her life through me. She had dreams she was never able to pursue.

"How do you get through life bereft of faith?After you pray the seventh day, who listens on the eighth?Does prayer dissolve in ether, and vanish in the void?How do you bear your burdens with belief itself destroyed?"

This lyric was special to me as, I feel, its the absolute epitome of the genius that is Michael Korie. I mean..not only the weight of the meaning but the artistry of his phrasing and rhyming.

Laura Shoop, Cast: Maria Huxley

Then its time for us to follow, as a Catalina swallow goes Flying Over Sunset.

This lyric was cut from the show but made its way to the recording. I always told Michael Korie that I missed my Catalina swallow, he knows I love that lyric most of all.

Atticus Ware, Cast: Archie Leach

"As twilight turns the sky to indigo and violet, with fragrant nightshades in flower." It's such a vivid description that creates a calming scene. It's beautiful.

Michael Korie, Lyricist

One of my favorite lyrics in the score of Flying Over Sunset, thanks to Tom Kitt's glorious musical setting of it, occurs in the song "Sapphire Dragonfly," where Clare Boothe Luce is high on LSD for the first time in her garden in Connecticut. She spies a beautiful dragonfly, its colors heightened by the drug, and then is horrified to witness it being eaten by a bird in front of her eyes.

It reminds her of her beautiful young daughter, taken before her time in a car accident, and it makes Clare question her faith in God. She sings to the ghost of her daughter:

"You were the world to me, So young and beautiful.I need a drug to see you now,No thanks to Him.What kind of deityCreates a miracle,Then for the hell of itDestroys it on a whim?"

Tom Kitt, Composer

"Each of us is incomplete, til our paths convergeEveryone in life we meet, mixes in the merge."

This lyric really speaks to me in how it suggests that for our lives to be truly full, we must be open to the people around us and all the beautiful energy they bring us. There is so much we can do by ourselves in todays world, but nothing compares to the joys, rewards, and lessons that come from human interaction and shared experience.

Ellenore Scott,Choreographer

Im gonna be so f****** good.

It is the end of Unbelievable in Act One and it is just such a funny, but confident line that sometimes I think we all want to just reiterate to ourselvesthat we are f****** good.

For a more clean lyric, I love Maybe it starts with me. As someone who goes to therapy it is such a realization to understand your perspective on the world starts with yourself and I think it is told stunningly through Shoshanas performance as Susan in the show.

Mylinda Hull, Cast:Principal Player

Unbelievable! That at my age every bells not rung yet.Unbelievable!Lady Luck gives me a kiss, with tongue yet!

Amanda Green has an amazing ability to combine delicious wordplay with meaningful storytelling. And flat out funny! What a gift to sing and listen to these lyrics every night! I love listening to Billy Crystal sing this lyric at the end of Act One. The combination of the rhyme and the joy make me giggle every time:

Randy Graff, Cast:Elaine Young

"My wonderful pain in the ass"

Amanda Green has done such a marvelous job with the lyrics to Mr. Saturday Night, it's hard to pick just one. But the lyric that has recently stood out for me is "my wonderful pain in the ass" which is the title of the beautiful duet Billy and I do in the second act, about the ups and downs of a long marriage between two older people. A student of mine who is single and in his early twenties, came to see the show and told me "I want a pain in the ass." I thought that was so sweet. He got what the song was about even at the age of 22.

Jordan Gelber, Cast:Principal Player

"Wanna commit career kamikaze?Act like that f-ed up old Ashkenazi"

[That lyric]is always fun to sing at the audience. I'm simply amazed that Amanda Green was able to rhyme Ashkenazi in a song so well. Being an Ashkenazi Jew, it has a special place in my heart. And it's damn funny.

Brian Gonzales, Cast:Principal Player

"Wanna commit career kamikaze?Act like that f**%#d up old Ashkenazi!"

I admire that anyone was able to get those two words into a song, and have them work perfectly with the moment.

Lowell Ganz,Bookwriter

One who isnt a cheat or a stealer. Or gay or my boss or my dealer.

In Theres a Chance, Susan sings about the kind of guy she might meet going forward. I know her whole past life in two seconds.

Jason Robert Brown,Composer

Unbelievable that at my age all my bells aint rung yet.Unbelievable! Lady Luck gives me a kiss - with tongue yet!Getting a good joke into a lyric is insanely difficult because you actually have to do two jokes at once; not only do you have to have a funny idea with phrasing that fits in the right number of syllables, but the rhyme at the end has to be funny too or the joke wont land. Its like throwing a basketball while youre kicking a soccer ball and getting them both into the net. Amanda Green pulls off this impossible feat in virtually every song of Mr. Saturday Night, but my favorite is in the finale to Act One, Unbelievable, when Buddy Young finds out he has an opportunity to restart his career and maybe even his life.

A lyric that can get a laugh every night is a miraculous thing, and I hear that miracle go by seven times a week at the Nederlander Theater.

John Rando,Director

"Stick around,Take a lap on the open track.Life can still come through with a shocker.Even when you're an alte cocker.I was dead! But now look who's back!Stick around,Don't you leave while the band's still playing.Ride it out,Who knows which way the wind will blow?Take the nickel tour,Who can say for sureThey're sure how their life will go? Stick around...Stick around!Stick around!Cause you never know!

So this is my choice. Its tough to decide of course when you have someone as talented and funny as Amanda Green writing the lyrics. But I like these, well because there just arent that many musicals where you can find a rhyme for Alte Cocker. Also, I like the nod to old folks hanging in there and sticking around and to the surprises that life can bring at any age

Amanda Green, Lyricist

A lyric that has particular resonance with me is sung by Susan, Buddy Young's grown daughter, played to perfection by Shoshana Bean. Susan has had a difficult relationship with her father her whole life and a difficult time making her way in the world.

At the end of the play, the two reconcile and after he leaves she sings this opening of the final song "Stick Around." It resonates with me because at times in my life, I've had moments of despair and self-doubt, felt I missed the boat, worried I was somehow, fundamentally, lacking. The song, with Jason's gorgeous music, says life is worth living, and it's always too soon to give up hope.

"So you write the guy offSure the family is throughAnd there's no happy endingsFor people like you

Stick aroundNever know what the day will bring youStick aroundThough you sometimes may wonder whyLife's a tripPeople change who you least expectedYou were strangers, now you're connectedHey who knows? Maybe pigs can fly

Stick aroundIt may all go to hell tomorrowHold your groundYou have more than you think to showAnd he said out loudThat I made him proudWho's to say how close we could grow?So stick around,Cause you never know."

Runner Up:

"Wanna commit career kamikaze?Act like that fucked-up old Ashkenazi!"

Cause I made Billy Crystal laugh when he read it.

Kennedy Caughell, Cast: Ensemble

"We were safer separated, but love left us no choice."

That's the essential message we are trying to convey in this piece. There is one thing that unites us beyond our differences, and that is love.

Chloe Davis, Cast: Nova/Ensemble

"We were better separated, but love gave us no choice.

This is the foundation and essence of humanity. The celebration of differences, cultures, races, languages, traditions, and similarities, but the center of our existence is love. We exist because of love.

Bernard Dotson, Cast: Ensemble

"Every day we have everything to lose, we fight tooth and nail to live the life we choose!"

As a 61-year-old Black Gay Man in America, I have come to know that discrimination and racism is very real in this country. I have traveled extensively across Europe and Asia, and never have experienced what the minorities have had to deal with to survive.

Sean Jenness, Cast: Ensemble

"Look at what we have created We gave ourselves a voiceWe were safer separated But love left us no choice"

I used this line from Let It Burn in my opening night cards I gave to my cast mates.I like it because it's meaningful on several levels. We all left the safety of our Covid bubbles to come together to create this show and it would have been safer to stay home. But we love this life and we took the chance. I think you're gonna find a lot of people choose this lyric, honestly! We all talk about it!!

Joshua Keith, Cast: Ensemble

We Gave OURSELVES A Voice!!

Chilina Kennedy, Cat: Annie Lewis

We safer separated but love left us no choice.

Kayla Pecchioni, Cast: Blessed/Ensemble

Oh God, when you made us you shattered the mold.

We say this line in a moment of prayer. I love it because not only does the line create beautiful imagery, but it so accurately describes this unique community in the Five Points that we get to live in each night.

Erica Spyres, Cast: Amelia Tiggens/Ensemble

I know that our spirit is bigger than this place.

It reminds me that we are all more than what we do or where we are.

Lael Van Keuren, Cast: Ensemble

Oh God when you made us,You shattered the moldInside theres a spirit That cant be controlled!"

One of my favorite moments to sing each night!! Almost the entire company is onstage, and our voices continue to swell until its a complete cacophony of beautiful harmonies and music. Lyrically, it is the essence of Paradise Square.

Alan Wiggins, Cast: Ensemble

Inside this little building is a rare and special lot

Look at what we have created. We gave ourselves a voice.

For me, those two lyrics from "Let It Burn"speak directly to the talent, and the inner beauty and strength of everyone who tells our story each night. They are definitely the most meaningful to me.

Hailee Kaleem Wright, Cast: Ensemble

I think of those that blessed my steps this far from Breathe Easy

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Are These The Best Lyrics From the 2022 Tony Nominees for Best Original Score? - Playbill.com

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

In my childhood home, sour cream almost constituted a food group. We spooned it over potatoes, blintzes, latkes, borscht, pierogies, yellow squash, string beans, mamaliga, strawberries, blueberries, and banana slicesthe last having been immortalized in the spoof song Have a Banana, sung to the tune of Hava Nagila. (The final lyrics are pass the sour cream.) And we ate it with egg noodles, my personal favorite, the cream melting to create a slightly tangy, instant, mock Alfredo sauce.

My earliest memory of sour cream is of eating it sprinkled with white sugar and served alongside a scoop of cottage cheesea quickie kiddie supper that served the same role frozen pizza would play for my brood three decades later.

It wasnt just my family. In those pre-hummus, pre-tahini, and pre-sriracha days, sour cream was everywhere: in supermarkets, in specialized Jewish dairy shops like Daitchs (the ancestor of the Food Emporium), on starched tablecloths at Grossingers (the now-defunct paradisiacal Catskill Mountains resort), and at New Yorks beloved and also long-gone Jewish dairy eateries such as Ratners, Steinbergs, Famous, and Farm Food, where it was served in dainty white ceramic bowls. At those restaurants, one could order a dish called Farmers, or Jewish, Chop Suey, a non-politically correct name for a mix of sour cream, cottage cheese, and fresh vegetables.

My family never ordered Jewish Chop Sueyit seemed pointless to go out to eat something you could easily make at home. What we did order and enjoy was krupnik, the porridgelike mushroom and barley soup served with sour cream, its creamy tang complementing the meatiness of the mushrooms.

Jews clearly have a thing for sour cream. But is it Jewish food? What better time to ask than Shavuot?

According to the website Ten Random Facts, the beloved white condiment derives from the Mongolian alcoholic drink kumis, originallymade from the milk of female horses. How kumis morphed into sour cream is unclear. What is known is that by the 19th century, sour creamsmetana in Russian and Yiddish, or tejfol in Hungarianhad become Ashkenazi Jewrys favorite cultured milk product.

Why? Not just because it tastes so good.

Like the other sauerssauerkraut and sour picklessour cream was born out of necessity, writes the late food historian Gil Marks. Before refrigeration, fermentation was employed to increase the shelf life of fragile foods like milk. In the shtetl, many Jews owned cows and milk was in ample supply.

Shtetl Jews didnt eat much meatgenerally not on weekdays and, if times were especially tough, possibly not even on Shabbat. Sour cream provided a cheap source of protein along with vitamins A and D, as well as calcium and protein, and it added a zippy flavor to a potato-heavy diet and could be easily made at home.

Until the 1920s, and in some places until many decades later, milk wasnt homogenized. Without emulsification, the cream naturally rose to the top. All one needed to do was to separate it and leave it at room temperature overnight to grow the natural lactobacilli that would cause it to grow thick and tangy. That bacteria also aided indigestion. Todays sour cream is leanermost commercial sour cream contains between 18% and 20% fat. (In Israel, sour cream comes in three varieties: 9%, 15%, and a 27% fat variation called shamenet shel paam, or old-fashioned sour creamits packaging illustrated with a wistful image of a red-roofed cottage and a tree.) Unfortunately the pasteurization process that reduces the risk of food poisoning also murders those healthy gut-enhancing live bacteria.

So, is todays sour cream healthy? Yes and no.

Eaten together with veggies (think Farmers Chop Suey), sour cream will flatten hunger and aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, which are important in preventing diabetes and cancer. But beware: Half of sour creams calories come from saturated fat, which increases the LDL (bad) cholesterol that leads to heart disease.

So enjoy sour cream, but in moderation. Dont turn it into a food group.

As Shavuot draws close, dairy cases in Israel and in kosher groceries throughout the Jewish world overflow with the stuff along with numerous other cheeses and dairy derivatives. Although its customary to eat dairy foods on Hanukkah to recall Judiths bravery, Shavuotthe late spring holiday, which celebrates the giving of the Torahis the Jewish calendars best-known dairy celebration.

Why dairy? Because the Torah is compared to milk. Just as milk or cream or sour cream nourishes the body, so, too, does the Torah nourish the soul.

In gematria, the ancient wisdom system extracts hidden meaning from Hebrew words by ascertaining the numerical value of the letters in a word. The letters in halav, the Hebrew word for milk, add up to 40: the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah.

In the Psalms, Mount Sinai is referred to as tohar gavnunim, a mountain of majestic peaksbut it can also be read as a cheese mountain (gevina is the Hebrew word for cheese).

Because its stored in earthenware or these days in cartons or plastic rather than silver or golden vessels, milk and all milk derivatives symbolize humility. The Torah is also preserved in humble vessels meaning the humble folk who study it and share its teachings.

It feels like more than a coincidence that my mother, a lifelong sour cream lover and cheese lover, was born just one day after Shavuot.

During her final year, after shed had become rail thin and wheelchair-bound, I hired a private chef to cook for her. Dementia had robbed her of her ability to read and communicate; eating was one of her few remaining pleasures. As nonagenarians are absolved from concerns with weight gain and elevated cholesterol, my instructions were simple: Put sour cream on everything.

My mother thrived, even gaining a bit of badly needed weight, and I was thrilledbut then the chef quit. A few months later, my mother developed pneumonia, which would eventually kill her. Was that because of excess phlegm produced by all that sour cream? I have no way of knowing and I sincerely hope not.

I dont eat much sour cream anymore. Its not because of my mother. These days my diet is informed by weight and cholesterol consciousness as well as environmental concerns. Im a weekday vegan. Sometimes I mix cashew butter with lemon juice and brewers yeast to create an ersatz nondairy sour cream. Its not bad. But its not the real thing.

Im Orthodox in my Judaism but not in my veganism. On Shavuot, Ill bake my cheesecake with cream cheese (not the Tofutti kind) and full-fat sour cream. I hope Ill limit my consumption to one small slice but Ill probably have more. And if some sour cream is left over after the holiday, Ill stir it into steaming egg noodles. Healthy for the body? In moderation, not so bad for the bodyand wonderful for the soul.

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The Joy of Sour Cream - Tablet Magazine

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Lucy the Elephant (Courtesy of the Save Lucy Committee)

Lucy the Elephant, the perennial symbol of the Jewish shore capital of Margate, New Jersey, is undergoing a whole body lift, as Rich Helfant, the executive director of Lucy, describes it.

Helfants nonprofit Save Lucy Committee is raising $2.1 million to replace every single bit of Lucys exterior skin. The project costs so much because the committee is using a metal alloy that takes a lot longer to rust.

With $1.2 million in grant money already in hand, Helfant only needs another $900,000 or so from Margate locals who care about their landmark. Lucys body is 80% renovated, according to the director. He just needs money for her head, the areas around her windows and the areas around her doors, among other spots.

The Margate resident estimates that Lucy will be as good as new by the end of August.Or just in time to mark the conclusion of the towns summer of renewal.

As soon as theyre done, well take the scaffolding down and people will see Lucy, Helfant said of the attraction that dates to 1881, four years before Margate was even incorporated as a borough.

Before locals and visitors see the new Lucy this summer, though, they will see Margate again for perhaps the first time since the prepandemic days of 2019.

Beth El Synagogue on North Jerome Avenue is hosting two comedians in July and its golf tournament at Harbor Pines Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township in September. Performers and the tournament were regular features of the temples schedule before COVID, but not since, according to Rabbi Aaron Krauss.

In the summer of 2021, Beth El did bring back its weekly mahjong game. But this year, we expect attendance to be increased, Krauss said.

Its coming back, he added. Its definitely coming back.

The Shirat Hayam Congregation in neighboring Ventnor also is bringing back its in-person schedule for 2022.

Rabbi Jonathan Kremer said the synagogue is cosponsoring/hosting three different concerts over the summer. Two of them, including an open mic show later in the season, are new this year, while another, an outdoor party with vendors and games for kids, debuted in 2021.

At the same time, the temple will continue its Devotion by the Ocean Shabbat service series. Congregants sit on the beach while Kremer leads the service, and a band plays the music behind him.

The 15-year-old tradition was one of the few that Shirat Hayam continued during the pandemic since it was outside. Now, even as the pandemic fades, the tradition wont.

Basically, all summer we have a full schedule, the rabbi said. Its gotten to the point where some people are concerned were offering too much.

Krauss and Kremer both believe that in-person events are essential. As Kremer asked, what is community without them?

People need people, Krauss added.

Kremer estimates that upward of 200 people sometimes attend the Devotion by the Ocean services. He called praying and singing together while looking out at the ocean an uplifting spiritual experience.

But synagogue will not be the only place where locals can find that type of experience. According to Anna Maria Courter, the executive director of the Margate Business Association, things are happening all over town, most notably at the newly completed promenade along Amherst Avenue.

The wooden walkway, which runs parallel to the bay, was completed last spring, but enhancements are ongoing, Courter said. She called the 2022 season the first in which the promenade, with its sunset views, lights and outdoor seats, will be open in full.

As she described it, people can get breathtaking views, then find a place to eat dinner or dessert. Every dinner place along the promenade, from Sofia Restaurant to Maynards Caf to Tomatoes, has embraced outdoor seating.

Its a newly reconfigured outdoor experience, Courter said.

In addition to the promenade, several new businesses are hitting the Margate scene this year. Shop Sixty Five is a clothing store on Jerome Avenue with all of the new fashions, as Courter put it. Aneu is a kitchen, juicery and market with existing locations in Ocean City and Paoli.

And Tony Boloneys, the well-known pizza brand with locations all over New Jersey, is turning its food truck attraction at the Margate Farmers Market into a summer-long spot behind Tomatoes on the promenade.

Its exciting, Courter said.

Yet even whats old in Margate is making an effort to become new this summer. The restaurants along Ventnor Avenue have added outdoor tables, according to Courter. And several bars/restaurants, Bocca Coal Fired Bistro, Venturas Greenhouse Restaurant, Roberts Place and Maynards Caf, are starting a Margate Cornhole League with 90 teams and 180 people.

Every Monday from 6:30-8:30 p.m., you play at a different location. Because why not make Monday night fun? Courter says there is a waiting list to join the league.

And the post-COVID spirit is not limited to Margate/Ventnor, either. Just south of Margate in Longport, neighboring restaurants Ozzies Luncheonette and Catch Restaurant & Bar got approval from borough officials to bring back the sidewalk dining tents that they used the past two summers.

In 2020, the restaurants needed the outdoor seating because they had to close their indoor dining areas, according to Lekie Nika, the owner of Ozzies. Last summer, they could only allow a small percentage to dine inside. This year, though, with indoor dining open in full, borough officials wanted to use the space for parking again, Nika said.

Yet in a choice between parking spots and outdoor seating, Longport residents chose seating. Three hundred people signed a petition asking for the tents to be allowed for a third straight summer.

Nika said the customer is right. The owners of the businesses wanted to give people the option of eating outside.

Last summer, two tents allowed the restaurants to open an additional 55 seats, according to Nika. She said she would do her best to maintain that capacity, or something close to it, in 2022, but labor shortages may make it difficult.

People have gotten used to eating outside, and they like it, she added. Especially when youre down at the shore. You want to be outside. You dont want to be inside.

The renovation of Lucy has faced similar issues, like a labor strike, a disrupted supply chain and a broken sprinkler pipe, all of which prevented the committee from hitting its original beginning-of-summer target for completion.

Yet Helfant pledges to finish the project no matter how long it takes. He grew up in Margate playing miniature golf and hanging out at Lucy, he said. So he promises that the elephant attraction will look like you remember her but everything will be new.

She was such an important part of the development of the South Jersey shore, he explained. And shes the only thing like it on Earth. How many six-story giant elephants are there? JE

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What's New at the Jersey Shore This Year? - Jewish Exponent

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