A huge tree in my front yard just fell down, across my yard and that of two neighbors, across Cathedral Ave. and hit a car. Amazingly, no houses or people got hit. We are incredibly lucky.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sandy pays a visit to my street
This just happened.
A huge tree in my front yard just fell down, across my yard and that of two neighbors, across Cathedral Ave. and hit a car. Amazingly, no houses or people got hit. We are incredibly lucky.
A huge tree in my front yard just fell down, across my yard and that of two neighbors, across Cathedral Ave. and hit a car. Amazingly, no houses or people got hit. We are incredibly lucky.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Jewish Agency head to offer leadership insights in Rockville TONIGHT, D.C. THURS.
The president of my firm, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, has a new blog on Washington Jewish Week. This week, Steve Rabinowitz and I wrote a piece together, talking up Jewish Agency International Development's Misha Galperin and his new book, Reimagining Leadership in Jewish Organizations: Ten Practical Lessons to Help You Implement Change and Achieve Your Goals.
Misha will be discussing the book TONIGHT (Wednesday, September 19) at the JCC in Rockville and TOMORROW (Thursday, September 20) at the DC JCC. Come check it out. The full blog post follows below.
Gotta' admit, it's nice to have a byline every once in a while!
Misha will be discussing the book TONIGHT (Wednesday, September 19) at the JCC in Rockville and TOMORROW (Thursday, September 20) at the DC JCC. Come check it out. The full blog post follows below.
 |
| Misha Galperin, President and CEO of Jewish Agency International Development |
| 9/18/2012 10:22:00 PM Misha Galperin to offer leadership insights in Washington, Rockville THIS WEEK |
with Samantha Friedman One of Washington's most famous sons of the Jewish nonprofit community returns to our area this week. Misha Galperin, who headed the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington for nine years, is now in New York as the head of Jewish Agency International Development (a client), where he is responsible for the Jewish Agency for Israel's External Affairs. He just came out with a new book, Reimagining Leadership in Jewish Organizations: Ten Practical Lessons to Help You Implement Change and Achieve Your Goals, and he's coming back to Washington to talk about it. In other words, he's got years of experience in Jewish leadership; yes, he literally wrote the book. The book is divided into ten lessons drawn from Misha's own experience - in fact, the book came out of a speech he gave at his last DC Jewish Federation annual meeting as CEO. Not only has he held high-level positions locally and nationally, but what you might not know is he's also a clinical psychologist who grew up in the former Soviet Union. This background guides the way he advises people to become involved in leadership capacities, to identify and cultivate leaders, to effect positive change in an organization, and to ensure that leaders exert the proper level of attention toward creating and carrying out a succession plan to perpetuate their organizations. Not everyone is a leader. Misha isn't afraid to admit this, or, he says, should we be. He provides a list of what to look for in a leader, things like inspiration, questioning authority while respecting the past, empathy, courage, an affinity for problem solving, willingness to make decisions and risk making mistakes, possession of deep convictions, optimism. People may be natural-born leaders, he proffers, but if they don't have the tools or support to hone their leadership skills, their innate abilities will go to waste. Nurturing leadership must be a larger, organized societal effort, not something done in a vacuum. The book is a book for the here and now; the audience is current or future leaders of Jewish institutions and nonprofits we may know or hope to know - or hope to facilitate in their endeavors. Interestingly, Misha opens the book by relating the opportunity for a refined focus on leadership in the Jewish community to the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement. He writes: "Similar movements are sprawling across the United States and Europe, begging for financial equality in a world of haves and have-nots. Each protest differs in its objective or focus, but they all share a common denominator: the anger and disappointment that emerge in the vacuum of leadership. These are largely grassroots, leaderless movements. They are seen as attacking people with power, but ironically they too seek someone to represent them. Protesters are dissatisfied with the status quo, but there is no one to talk to, no one to listen, no one to galvanize or point them in a direction. They want things to be different, but they don't know how. This global trend showcases the major deficit in leadership we are currently experiencing."You should read the book yourself - whether you're looking for people to lead specifically Jewish organizations or any other organizations or groups in which you're involved - but here's the cheat sheet of Misha's lessons in leadership:
"Articulate how you lead, and you begin to lead differently. Find the language to express your own deeply held leadership principles, and you will discover what you stand for, even if you have always had some inkling before. Writing it down, speaking it, and sharing it with others will help anchor your own commitments."For more, see what Washington Jewish Week's Meredith Jacobs learned about the book from her interview with Misha Galperin, published in last week's edition, as well as eJewish Philanthropy's review of the book. Then come see Misha. INFO ON THE ROCKVILLE AND DC BOOK TALKS THIS WEEK:
|
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Running at dusk
Sometimes there is nothing better than a run through the city after a long day. It's refreshing and reflective and sometimes even revelatory. In last night's case, I found myself exploring a dirt trail in Rock Creek Park I'd never taken before.
The trail wound through Dumbarton Oaks and Montrose parks, and I almost felt like I was seeing Washington from a vista I'd never had before. I don't know how I missed these trails. I have lived near an entrance to the park for almost a year now, but I guess like anything else, people tend to stick to what they know, and my norm is a paved trail that runs behind the zoo. There is something about running on a narrow dirt trail wide enough only for a single person, with a canopy of trees overhead that envelops you just enough to give shade and a little seclusion without feeling too cut off from the world.
I emerged in what I suppose would be called northeast Georgetown, where R Street is lined by gorgeous homes and a cobblestone sidewalk. On the way home, I passed embassies and headed north through Dupont Circle. One route - so many elements of the city at once.
The trail wound through Dumbarton Oaks and Montrose parks, and I almost felt like I was seeing Washington from a vista I'd never had before. I don't know how I missed these trails. I have lived near an entrance to the park for almost a year now, but I guess like anything else, people tend to stick to what they know, and my norm is a paved trail that runs behind the zoo. There is something about running on a narrow dirt trail wide enough only for a single person, with a canopy of trees overhead that envelops you just enough to give shade and a little seclusion without feeling too cut off from the world.
I emerged in what I suppose would be called northeast Georgetown, where R Street is lined by gorgeous homes and a cobblestone sidewalk. On the way home, I passed embassies and headed north through Dupont Circle. One route - so many elements of the city at once.
 |
| Deer at home in the Garden at Dumbarton Oaks |
 |
| The Oak Hill Cemetery |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
TOMORROW: Faith leaders to fast to limit solitary confinement before Hill hearing
Media Advisory: June 18, 2012
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or samantha@rabinowitz-dorf.com
TOMORROW: Faith Leaders to
Discuss Opposition to Prolonged Solitary Confinement
Capitol Hill press
conference to conclude 23-hour nationwide fast following first-ever
Congressional hearing on solitary confinement
Washington, D.C. – A group of religious leaders will end a 23-hour nationwide fast on
Tuesday, June 19, at 12 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, interceding
on behalf of the tens of thousands of American
prisoners currently housed in solitary confinement across the country. The fast will be held in conjunction with a Senate
hearing on the use of solitary confinement in the U.S. federal penitentiary
system. This is the first time Congress
has explored this issue.
Hundreds of
people of faith across the country have agreed to take part in the National
Religious Campaign Against Torture’s “23-Hour Fast to End 23-Hour Solitary” in
anticipation of Tuesday’s Senate hearing.
The length of the fast symbolizes the 23 hours per day inmates are typically
required to spend in solitary confinement cells. As evidenced by recent prisoner hunger strikes
in Virginia and California, refusing food is one of the few means prisoners
across the country have to protest their conditions in solitary confinement. The fast is intended to draw attention to the
physical, emotional and psychological harm caused by prolonged solitary
confinement.
A 12 p.m. press
conference Tuesday will include a ceremonial
“breaking of the bread” among religious leaders of
various faiths,
to conclude the
fast. Among those
attending will be:
·
Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director, National
Religious Campaign Against Torture
·
Linda Gustitus, President, National Religious Campaign
Against Torture
· Dave Louden, Chief of
Staff, Justice Fellowship/Prison Fellowship Ministries
· Bill Mefford, Director of Civil and Human Rights,
General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
·
Maggie Siddiqi, Program Coordinator, Office
for Interfaith and Community Alliances, Islamic
Society of North America
·
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Director of North American
Programs, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America
· Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson
II, Director, Presbyterian Church Office of
Public Witness
·
Kathy McNeely, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global
Concerns
·
Archbishop Michael Seneco, Presiding Bishop, North
American Old Catholic Church
·
Rev. Jonathan Barton, General Minister, Virginia
Council of Churches
The press conference is open to the media, and
coverage is welcome. Photo and video opportunities
will be available.
The National Religious
Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) has been outspoken and effective in its efforts to limit the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. Its press conference will follow a hearing, “Reassessing
Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences,” convened at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 19,
in Dirksen 226 by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, chaired by Illinois Sen. Dick
Durbin.
What: Discussion on
the harmful use of solitary confinement in our nation’s federal prisons,
jails, and detention centers
When: Tuesday, June
19, 2012, at 12 p.m.
Where: Room 216, Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Who: The National
Religious Campaign Against Torture and supporters
Why: To share the
reasons prolonged solitary confinement is morally, psychologically and
physically harmful, as well as economically detrimental, and to discuss
alternatives
The National
Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a growing membership organization
committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, 315 religious organizations
have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical
Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities.
Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations
and local congregations. More information is available at www.nrcat.org.
///
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Arkansas Jewish food in Tablet
Joan Nathan went to Arkansas and wrote about my peeps!!
As a follow-up to an earlier post on Joan Nathan's enlightening visit into the world of Jewish food and culture in Arkansas, here's her piece published in today's Tablet magazine, complete with photos from the Jewish Federation of Arkansas' Jewish Food Festival and quotes from many of my most favorite Arkansans:
Jewish food festivals across the South offer a regional twist on
traditional recipes—and the best place to find corned beef in barbecue
country
“It brings the Jewish community together,” said Scott Levine, who co-chairs the event with his wife, Jane. “And it is an opportunity to introduce our culture and our foods to non-Jews.”
“Lots of people have tasted falafel, but you wouldn’t believe how many have not had a bite of kugel,” explained Leah Selig Elenzweig, who, along with her husband, Neal, was one of the early movers behind the event, which is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Arkansas. For those who don’t want to try something unfamiliar, the festival also offers more standard Jewish fare, she added: “everything from kosher hot dogs to deli sandwiches.”
Jewish food fairs are springing up all across the South. There’s HardLox, the Jewish Food and Heritage Festival in Asheville, N.C.; the Jewish Food Fest in Corpus Christi, Texas; the Jewish Food Festival in Montgomery, Ala.; and the granddaddy of them all, Shalom Y’all, the Jewish food festival marking its 24th year in Savannah, Ga. And like next month’s event in Little Rock, all these festivals offer a chance for Jews to reconnect with their culinary heritage, and for non-Jews to get a taste of Jewish cooking—including a particularly Southern brand of Jewish cuisine.
“I think they are very popular because people like ethnic food,” said Lauri Taylor, chairman of Shalom Y’all. This fall’s event will feature a wide range of Jewish food, from sizzling Sephardic lamb to homemade chopped liver, apple strudel to egg creams—in addition to klezmer music and other entertainment.
“Food is a big part of Jewish culture in general,” said Macy Hart, president of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life—and Jews in the South have developed some of their own recipes. “When we came to the South, Jewish dishes were not available to us. [So] we assimilated our foods within the fabric of Southern life.”
In most of the South, Hart explained, “we don’t have delis on every corner.” So, if you want to sample a bit of this Southern Jewish cuisine—schnecken with pecans, kugel with corn flakes—or if you just want a good corned beef sandwich in the land of barbecue, the food festivals are the place to be. “The importance of the contribution of the Jews, even in communities with diminishing numbers, is shown here.”
***
Jewish food fairs in the South date back to just after the Civil War. At that time, the festivals were often fundraising events, benefiting synagogues or local hospitals, and the menus had specific themes, like strawberries, or oysters.
Yes, oysters. This tradition can be attributed to Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the founder of the Reform movement, who loved oysters. In an editorial in his influential American Israelite newspaper on April 4, 1895, he wrote: “There can be no doubt that the oyster shell is the same to all intents and purposes as the scales are to the clean fish, protecting against certain gases in the water. In fact, the oyster shell is a close connection of scales. It is the scales only which the Talmud acknowledges as the sign of cleanliness. … Oysters grown in ponds outside of the sea are certainly kosher, also according to Maimonides.”
Aunt Babette’s Cook Book, published in Chicago in 1889, included an entire oyster chapter, as did many of the Council of Jewish Women’s fundraising cookbooks from Boston to Portland, Ore. It is not surprising then, that by the end of the century, a Reform temple in Alabama held an oyster dinner fundraiser.
Times have changed in the South, and even the Reform synagogues that tend to hold these festivals provide some kosher food at the events.
Today, the fundraisers have morphed into food fairs where the communities boast of serving authentic New York deli food as well as “start from scratch” Jewish kugels, blintzes, and schnecken. “You don’t have to know how to pronounce rugelach or challah to know how delicious these baked goods are,” boasts the Montgomery fair’s promotional material. “Other menu items include brisket (slow-cooked beef), potato latkes (pancakes) and stuffed cabbage—not to mention Carnegie Deli cheesecake, straight from the Big Apple!”
The foods served at these events tell as much about the history of the South as they do about today.
Arkansas’ Jewish population currently includes roughly 2,000 families. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 14 towns, such as Levy and Altheimer, were founded by Jews or named after early Jewish residents.
In Little Rock, Jews first peddled goods brought by river boats to the outlying community of farmers. Little by little, they became merchants (or, as one Mississippi lady told me, “mercantiles”) in stores along the riverbanks, when the river was king, before the advent of the railroad and later the automobile. Then their children became lawyers and doctors, abandoning the small towns for bigger cities.
Elenzweig strolled with me recently down from the Clinton Library to the site of the Little Rock festival, the River Market Pavilion, perched up high, like the Acropolis, on the banks of the Arkansas River, near stores started by the first Jewish settlers. Coming mostly from Germany, they brought dishes like the potato charlotte (which they now call potato dressing, in Southern fashion), stuffed veal, and Elenzweig’s grandmother’s recipe for her muffin-like schnecken rolled with pecans and real brown sugar, rather than the more German walnuts and white sugar.
Elenzweig’s ancestors came first to nearby Pine Bluff in the mid-19th century from Germany, probably lured there as others were by word of mouth or newspaper advertisements in the German press promising them land. In Pine Bluff, we visited the Jewish cemetery, as big as a football field. Few, if any, Jews live there anymore, having moved to Little Rock and elsewhere.
Many of the old recipes have been lost with modern times and intermarriage. But, at the food fairs you can see some remembrance of the past.
Elenzweig’s Grandma Tessie’s delicious recipe for schnecken, copied from an old scribbled recipe, are baked by the hundreds. Elenzweig’s husband, Neal, the cook in the family, shared his Brooklyn mother’s cranberry stuffed cabbage, now used each year for the festival. The kugel, adapted from Rita Fagan, who is in charge of gathering the food for the festival, is especially popular, a very American recipe with corn flake crumbs on top and noodles that don’t need to be boiled in advance.
Millie Baron’s Queens-born father came to Hot Springs (where Bill Clinton grew up) with the Army during World War II, met her mother, and stayed; Baron will be delivering some macaroons to the festival this year. At her Ambrosia Bakery, Baron makes many Jewish recipes, and her Jewish treats often find an audience among Arkansas’ non-Jews: Her grandmother’s rugelach are a popular Christmas treat, for instance.
Challah, which she calls braided bread, is sold every day of the year, with churches often ordering them for the Sabbath. “Two men, one with a Wall Street Journal and another the New York Times, order them every day with a cup of coffee,” she said. And when I was visiting just before Purim, Baron was delivering 600 hamentashen to a church in Little Rock that wanted to know more about their Jewish roots. Recipes for her challah and bagels come from George Greenstein’s Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads From Around the World.
The Little Rock food festival involves Jews living across the entire state and brings people together in ways that only cooking can. For months the (mostly) women gather at the synagogue or in their homes, baking and freezing. Then, Sunday morning, they thaw the foods and cover them in plastic wrap. The festival attracted over 12,000 people last year; this year they are hoping for 15,000.
For Elenzweig, the best part of the festival is meeting unaffiliated Jews who somehow just appear. “Except for the food festival, I never would have known about their Jewishness,” she said. “Maybe food brings back memory for them and they just want to come.”
But plenty of people who come aren’t Jewish at all. “We have a big rush of folks coming in after church,” she noted. “At first I thought it was all about us, but it isn’t. It is also about the outreach to the greater community.”
As a follow-up to an earlier post on Joan Nathan's enlightening visit into the world of Jewish food and culture in Arkansas, here's her piece published in today's Tablet magazine, complete with photos from the Jewish Federation of Arkansas' Jewish Food Festival and quotes from many of my most favorite Arkansans:
A Taste of the Jewish South
Jewish food festivals across the South offer a regional twist on
traditional recipes—and the best place to find corned beef in barbecue
country
 |
| Frying latkes at last year’s Jewish Food Festival in Little Rock, Ark. (Doris Krain) |
“It brings the Jewish community together,” said Scott Levine, who co-chairs the event with his wife, Jane. “And it is an opportunity to introduce our culture and our foods to non-Jews.”
“Lots of people have tasted falafel, but you wouldn’t believe how many have not had a bite of kugel,” explained Leah Selig Elenzweig, who, along with her husband, Neal, was one of the early movers behind the event, which is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Arkansas. For those who don’t want to try something unfamiliar, the festival also offers more standard Jewish fare, she added: “everything from kosher hot dogs to deli sandwiches.”
Jewish food fairs are springing up all across the South. There’s HardLox, the Jewish Food and Heritage Festival in Asheville, N.C.; the Jewish Food Fest in Corpus Christi, Texas; the Jewish Food Festival in Montgomery, Ala.; and the granddaddy of them all, Shalom Y’all, the Jewish food festival marking its 24th year in Savannah, Ga. And like next month’s event in Little Rock, all these festivals offer a chance for Jews to reconnect with their culinary heritage, and for non-Jews to get a taste of Jewish cooking—including a particularly Southern brand of Jewish cuisine.
“I think they are very popular because people like ethnic food,” said Lauri Taylor, chairman of Shalom Y’all. This fall’s event will feature a wide range of Jewish food, from sizzling Sephardic lamb to homemade chopped liver, apple strudel to egg creams—in addition to klezmer music and other entertainment.
“Food is a big part of Jewish culture in general,” said Macy Hart, president of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life—and Jews in the South have developed some of their own recipes. “When we came to the South, Jewish dishes were not available to us. [So] we assimilated our foods within the fabric of Southern life.”
In most of the South, Hart explained, “we don’t have delis on every corner.” So, if you want to sample a bit of this Southern Jewish cuisine—schnecken with pecans, kugel with corn flakes—or if you just want a good corned beef sandwich in the land of barbecue, the food festivals are the place to be. “The importance of the contribution of the Jews, even in communities with diminishing numbers, is shown here.”
***
Jewish food fairs in the South date back to just after the Civil War. At that time, the festivals were often fundraising events, benefiting synagogues or local hospitals, and the menus had specific themes, like strawberries, or oysters.
Yes, oysters. This tradition can be attributed to Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the founder of the Reform movement, who loved oysters. In an editorial in his influential American Israelite newspaper on April 4, 1895, he wrote: “There can be no doubt that the oyster shell is the same to all intents and purposes as the scales are to the clean fish, protecting against certain gases in the water. In fact, the oyster shell is a close connection of scales. It is the scales only which the Talmud acknowledges as the sign of cleanliness. … Oysters grown in ponds outside of the sea are certainly kosher, also according to Maimonides.”
Aunt Babette’s Cook Book, published in Chicago in 1889, included an entire oyster chapter, as did many of the Council of Jewish Women’s fundraising cookbooks from Boston to Portland, Ore. It is not surprising then, that by the end of the century, a Reform temple in Alabama held an oyster dinner fundraiser.
Times have changed in the South, and even the Reform synagogues that tend to hold these festivals provide some kosher food at the events.
Today, the fundraisers have morphed into food fairs where the communities boast of serving authentic New York deli food as well as “start from scratch” Jewish kugels, blintzes, and schnecken. “You don’t have to know how to pronounce rugelach or challah to know how delicious these baked goods are,” boasts the Montgomery fair’s promotional material. “Other menu items include brisket (slow-cooked beef), potato latkes (pancakes) and stuffed cabbage—not to mention Carnegie Deli cheesecake, straight from the Big Apple!”
The foods served at these events tell as much about the history of the South as they do about today.
Arkansas’ Jewish population currently includes roughly 2,000 families. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 14 towns, such as Levy and Altheimer, were founded by Jews or named after early Jewish residents.
In Little Rock, Jews first peddled goods brought by river boats to the outlying community of farmers. Little by little, they became merchants (or, as one Mississippi lady told me, “mercantiles”) in stores along the riverbanks, when the river was king, before the advent of the railroad and later the automobile. Then their children became lawyers and doctors, abandoning the small towns for bigger cities.
Elenzweig strolled with me recently down from the Clinton Library to the site of the Little Rock festival, the River Market Pavilion, perched up high, like the Acropolis, on the banks of the Arkansas River, near stores started by the first Jewish settlers. Coming mostly from Germany, they brought dishes like the potato charlotte (which they now call potato dressing, in Southern fashion), stuffed veal, and Elenzweig’s grandmother’s recipe for her muffin-like schnecken rolled with pecans and real brown sugar, rather than the more German walnuts and white sugar.
Elenzweig’s ancestors came first to nearby Pine Bluff in the mid-19th century from Germany, probably lured there as others were by word of mouth or newspaper advertisements in the German press promising them land. In Pine Bluff, we visited the Jewish cemetery, as big as a football field. Few, if any, Jews live there anymore, having moved to Little Rock and elsewhere.
Many of the old recipes have been lost with modern times and intermarriage. But, at the food fairs you can see some remembrance of the past.
Elenzweig’s Grandma Tessie’s delicious recipe for schnecken, copied from an old scribbled recipe, are baked by the hundreds. Elenzweig’s husband, Neal, the cook in the family, shared his Brooklyn mother’s cranberry stuffed cabbage, now used each year for the festival. The kugel, adapted from Rita Fagan, who is in charge of gathering the food for the festival, is especially popular, a very American recipe with corn flake crumbs on top and noodles that don’t need to be boiled in advance.
Millie Baron’s Queens-born father came to Hot Springs (where Bill Clinton grew up) with the Army during World War II, met her mother, and stayed; Baron will be delivering some macaroons to the festival this year. At her Ambrosia Bakery, Baron makes many Jewish recipes, and her Jewish treats often find an audience among Arkansas’ non-Jews: Her grandmother’s rugelach are a popular Christmas treat, for instance.
Challah, which she calls braided bread, is sold every day of the year, with churches often ordering them for the Sabbath. “Two men, one with a Wall Street Journal and another the New York Times, order them every day with a cup of coffee,” she said. And when I was visiting just before Purim, Baron was delivering 600 hamentashen to a church in Little Rock that wanted to know more about their Jewish roots. Recipes for her challah and bagels come from George Greenstein’s Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads From Around the World.
The Little Rock food festival involves Jews living across the entire state and brings people together in ways that only cooking can. For months the (mostly) women gather at the synagogue or in their homes, baking and freezing. Then, Sunday morning, they thaw the foods and cover them in plastic wrap. The festival attracted over 12,000 people last year; this year they are hoping for 15,000.
For Elenzweig, the best part of the festival is meeting unaffiliated Jews who somehow just appear. “Except for the food festival, I never would have known about their Jewishness,” she said. “Maybe food brings back memory for them and they just want to come.”
But plenty of people who come aren’t Jewish at all. “We have a big rush of folks coming in after church,” she noted. “At first I thought it was all about us, but it isn’t. It is also about the outreach to the greater community.”
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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