Tag: ask a jew

If this really is a genuine matzo-ball-soup emergency — and I sense from your tone that it is — I have some bad news for you. I’ve lived here more than seven years, and I’ve yet to find a local restaurant that makes matzo ball soup.

I can tell you that in my experience, most Jewish people who wear a chai, a Star of David, or both (some folks alternate between the two) see them as identifiers that tell the world: “I am Jewish” (and, presumably, “I am proud of being Jewish”).

It is possible to find sources from a Muslim perspective that claim the Torah makes reference to Muhammad. However, after an admittedly brief bit of online research, I found it difficult to locate a highly reputable source — e.g., an article by a recognized scholar published in a respected, peer-reviewed journal — asserting this idea.

Victims of trauma, or members of a people group that was traumatized, don’t owe the perpetrators anything in particular. What they must do, as individuals and/or as a community, is decide what the best way is to move forward to meet their own needs.

The destruction of the Second Temple by Roman forces in 70 AD ended the era of animal sacrifices in Judaism.

I think my Jewish upbringing and identity, and the ideas and values that underlie both, influence my writing considerably.

I imagine that if you surveyed 100 or 1,000 Israelis, you might get a similar response: that Israel is technically secular but often seems nonsecular, and yet a significant portion of its population considers pluralism and separation of religion and state very important.