The most successful matchmakers in the Jewish community don\’t want to talk romance.
His own romance \”happened so long ago, there is really not much to say about it,\” Alon Carmel, the co-founder, of JDate.com, the largest Jewish online personals site, tells The Journal when asked for some personal tips of the romance trade.
Carmel\’s business partner, Joe Shapira, is even less inspiring.
At one time, destination weddings were reserved for celebrity vows, hushed elopements and civil ceremonies. Exotic locales meant no chuppah, no rabbi, and no kosher-wine toast. But today, Jewish couples can have their wedding cake and eat it, too. Brides and grooms are getting married on the sandy beaches of the Bahamas and under the neon lights of Sin City, where traditional religious ceremonies are being hitched to romantic getaway affairs.
Instead of spending upwards of $30 per person and having the whole family kvetch about \”prosaic pasta\” and \”commonplace chicken,\” or spending even more money hiring a caterer to tramp through your house and schmutz up your kitchen, how about making our delicious, do-able menu and toast the bride with a heartfelt \”mazel tov!\” and a glass of Champagne in your garden?
It\’s beginning to look a lot like Purim. The hamantaschen-filled holiday comes one month early this year, as Temple Beth Ami in Santa Clarita and Six Flags Magic Mountain co-host PurimFest: The World\’s Largest Purim Carnival this Sunday.
The early date was chosen \”to allow everybody to come, so people won\’t miss the Purim parties at their own synagogues,\” said Rabbi Mark Blazer of Beth Ami, a congregation of 200 families.
It has a solid, stodgy presence on any dinner plate; it comes in as many flavors as Baskin-Robbins, but the most popular are noodle and potato. It can be served as side dish or, in some cases, a dessert. It can be sweet or savory, soft or firm, and though almost everyone can recognize a piece if placed in front of them, most would have a hard time defining what a kugel actually is.
The crude English definition of the Yiddish word is pudding, but that is not only an inadequate way to describe that square piece of — well, kugel that graces so many Jewish meals but incorrect also, given that \”pudding\” has a distinct dessert connotation, of which a hearty piece of kugel often has no part.
No, kugel is definitely more than pudding, and how much more will be seen this Sunday, when kugel aficionados will gather to wow the cognoscenti of the food world with their kugel creations at Yiddsihkayt Los Angeles\’ Kugl Kukh-Off.
Letters to the Editor, Point of View in response to Articles.
Israel claims that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has no jurisdiction to rule on the West Bank security barrier, but at the same time, the government is preparing detailed legal, security and diplomatic arguments and an intensive public relations campaign.
The government also announced this week that it may make significant changes in the fence\’s route, ahead of the Feb. 23 proceedings at The Hague.
Ten years ago, if the Palestinians had been told that Ariel Sharon, father of the Israeli settlement movement, would be offering a near-complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, most probably would have rejoiced at the prospect.
However, when the Israeli prime minister dropped that political bombshell last week by signaling that he intended to uproot almost every Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip — something the Arabs have demanded for years — Palestinians greeted the announcement with a mixture of caution and skepticism.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei welcomed the idea, saying, \”In our view, every evacuation of a settlement is welcome.\”
Kalkilya is surrounded on all sides by what Israel calls the separation fence, a barrier the government says it must build to protect its citizens from suicide bombers, snipers and other Palestinian terrorists.
Residents of Kalkilya say it has turned their city into a ghetto.
But Kfar Saba residents are solidly behind the wall.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.