Jewish Musings, Thursday, May 16

[louise]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[louise]

I just caught up on the chocolate chip thing. Loved it! Wow.

So we are halfway though Jewish American Heritage Month. Somehow I was completely unaware of this. The first I saw it was an announcement by Governor Newsom. Say what? It took me by surprise. I figured it was because of antisemitism. Did he go further with it with any programs? I wondered about this being a state initiative. I never heard anything about it at synagogue. Then when I looked into it I found it was first announced by President Bush in 2006. Were any of you aware of it? It’s to call attention to achievements by Jewish Americans, “a tribute to the influence Jewish Americans have had on our nation’s story.” Like Black History Month and Women's History Month except Jewish American.

I came across some suggestions in an article for how to observe it:

1 - go to a museum. As it happens I took a short “zoominar” this week from the Jewish Museum on Chagall. Ironically (perhaps) it covered the period he was painting crucifixions. Had no idea. There was one of Jesus on a cross wearing a loin cloth that was white with 3 black stipes along the bottom. Evocative. All surprising!

2 - read a book. One of their suggestions was Heaven & Earth Grocery store. I read that and enjoyed it.

3 – watch a movie. One of their recommendations was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I did see a few of those and enjoyed them. Maybe one day I should go back and watch the rest!

4 – become a “next-level” Jewish Chef. They recommended some new cookbooks including: “The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long by Naama Shefi, the founder and Executive Director of the Jewish Food Society, an organization dedicated to preserving Jewish cuisine around the world.” And Jake Cohen’s new book I Could Nosh: Classic Jew-Ish Recipes Revamped for Every Day is a fun and inspiring collection of recipes melding traditional Jewish flavors and modern influences.” I read that Joan Nathan has a new book out also.

5 – listen to Jewish voices. or perspectives on current events and issues that affect American Jews, listen to AJC’s weekly interviews on People of the Pod or Shalom Hartman Institute’s podcasts Identity/Crisis and For Heaven’s Sake with Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain on topics related to political and social trends in Israel, Israel-Diaspora relations, and the big questions about Jewish identity today. (my rabbi and several shul friends recently recommended that last one to me). They also mentioned Unorthodox and Gatecrashers.

So, happy to hear your take on Jewish American Heritage Month or on any theme related books, movies, podcasts, etc. or maybe some Jewish American achievements or heroes you would like to highlight.

[hollygail]

I probably learned about it when Gov. Newsom made his announcement earlier this month. Mostly what I've read about it online has to do with "did you know about this?" and things to that effect. No mention at the local Conservative shul I attend during the week and I didn't to to my own since last weekend (I'd planned to attend last Saturday morning but services got cancelled so I went to the local Conservative one, where there was still no mention of it)...

[gazelle18]

Does anyone remember when Dear Abby or Ann Landers did a listing of Jewish contributions to medicine? The list included the people who invented the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, the cure for this malady and that disease. It was a long list. At the end, Dear Abby said something like, “Go ahead, avoid anything Jews have anything to do with. But you’re not going to feel so good.”

Cool trivia: My DH’s great, great (great?) uncle, August von Wasserman, invented the first reliable test for syphilis! It is now out of date, but for decades it was the standard diagnostic tool.

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: Usually my local TV channels have blurbs about the various groups who are having a month declared in their honor. There have been NO mentions of Jewish American Heritage Month. NONE. GRR.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[brgmsn]

Tonight we're going into Philadelphia to hear Chef Michael Solomonov interview Joan Nathan about her new Jewish cookbook. It's being held at the Weitzman Jewish Museum. Looking forward to seeing them both!

[hollygail]

This showed up in my email listing today (inside an email from a publisher of books teachers use to teach Sunday school):
(Explore the guide to Jewish-American Heritage Month created by the New York City Public Schools)
www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/social-studies/jewish-american-heritage-month