Holocaust survivor Ed Mosberg, 93, criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) remarks comparing the migrant detention facilities to concentration camps as “evil” in comments to the New York Post.
Mosberg is the president of the Holocaust education organization From the Depths, which invited to Ocasio-Cortez on June 21 to tour Auschwitz. Ocasio-Cortez declined the invitation in a June 24 tweet replying to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), stating, “The last time you went on this trip it was reported that you also met w/ fringe Austrian neo-Nazi groups to talk shop. So I’m going to have to decline your invite. But thank you for revealing to all how transparently the far-right manipulates these moments for political gain.”
Mosberg told the Post on June 29 that Ocasio-Cortez simply “doesn’t want to learn” is “looking for excuses.” He called for her to “be removed from Congress” for “spreading anti-Semitism, hatred and stupidity. The people on the border aren’t forced to be there — they go there on their own will. If someone doesn’t know the difference, either they’re playing stupid or they just don’t care.”
He added, “Her statement is evil. It hurts a lot of people. At the concentration camp, we were not free. We were forced there by the Germans who executed and murdered people — there’s no way you can compare.”
Mosberg, who has been dealing with blood cancer, was sent to the Warsaw ghetto with his family in 1941, when he was 13. He was later sent to the Mauthasen and Plaszow camps. Mosberg was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust.
Two other Holocaust survivors have similarly criticized Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks. Ocasio-Cortez’s office told the Post that Ocasio-Cortez “made a distinction between a death camp and concentration camp. She’s been pretty outspoken about the issue.”
The freshman congresswoman visited the detention facilities on July 1, where she claimed that Border Patrol officers told women to drink water out of toilet bowls.
Taylor Swift slammed Big Machine Label Group producer Scott Borchetta and former music label head Scooter Braun on Tumblr June 30 after selling Big Machine and all six of her past albums’ masters to Braun.
Braun, who is Jewish, acquired the masters in a $300 million dollar deal with The Carlyle Group’s Ithaca Holdings.
Masters are the original recordings of songs. Swift, 29, also accused Braun, 38, of “manipulative bullying” through his associations with former client Kanye West and West’s wife, Kim Kardashian.
“Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world,” the “Me!” singer wrote. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.
Borchetta wrote on the Big Machine website Sunday night, “Taylor’s dad, Scott Swift, was a shareholder in Big Machine Records, LLC. We first alerted all of the shareholders on Thursday, June 20th for an official shareholder’s call scheduled for Tuesday, June 25th. On the 6/25 call the shareholders were made aware of the pending deal with Ithaca Holdings and had 3 days to go over all of the details of the proposed transaction. We then had a final call on Friday, June 28th in which the transaction passed with a majority vote and 3 of the 5 shareholders voting ‘yes’ with 92 percent of the shareholder’s vote.”
Swift’s representatives denied that the singer’s father was a shareholder.
Several celebrities came to Swift’s defense including Todrick Hall, Halsey, Iggy Azalea while Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Justin Beiber defended Braun.
Braun’s wife, founder of Let’s F**k Cancer, Yael Cohen Braun went to Instagram to support her husband.
“He’s a manager, not God. He cannot control the actions of other humans, even ones he manages,” she wrote June 30. ” Don’t blame him because Kim caught you in a lie, it’s embarrassing I know, but adults own up to their mistakes. We learn and grow from them, we don’t divert blame and our the lines of reality to suit our needs.”
Whitesville Central School District, located in western New York, said that a teacher’s remarks in a yearbook that called Adolf Hitler his “favorite person in history” were “taken out of context.”
The teacher, high school history teacher Jeff Acor, was asked in the yearbook who his favorite historical figure is. His response: “Adolf Hitler, who did many great things for Germany and their youth before the infamous Holocaust. Adolf was outed and faced hardships early in life which a lot of people can relate to. Adolf is arguably the greatest public speaker in the history of the world. Adolf made many great strides to make Germany a world superpower.”
Whitesville Central School District Superintendent Laurie Sanders said in a letter to parents that the yearbooks are being re-printed due to “several errors and oversights… including our discovery that a statement from one of our new teachers was incomplete, resulting in the description of a historical figure being mistakenly taken out of context.”
Sanders told WIVB that she thought that Acor’s comments were simply reflecting “the lens of history and not, he wasn’t applauding anything he did.” She added that Acor “never got to see the entire writing” of the yearbook post before it was published.
Sanders told the Olean Times Herald that the district investigated Acor and there won’t be any action against him. She also said that there would be tighter editing and supervision over the yearbooks from here on out.
Acor is referring requests for comment to the district, per the Times Herald.
The California Legislative Jewish Caucus has secured approximately $60 million in funding for Jewish camps and other priorities in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new state budget.
On Thursday, Newsom signed a 2019-2010 fiscal year state budget that allocates $23.5 million in state funds to rebuild California Jewish summer camps destroyed by the Woolsey and Tubbs wildfires in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
$23.5 million of a $214.8-billion budget—“the largest in state history,” according to the Los Angeles Times—will help fund the eventual rebuilding of Wilshire Boulevard Temple (WBT) Camps Hess Kramer and Gindling Hilltop Camp and the Shalom Institute’s Camp JCA Shalom in Malibu and URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. For now, the camps are operating at temporary sites that are hosting their summer programs.
According to a statement released by Jewish Caucus chair and State Senator Ben Allen, the California Legislative Jewish Caucus successfully lobbied for five of its budget priorities in the state budget.
Along with state money for the camps, the budget allocates $15 million for the state’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which assists religious centers, community centers, schools and other similar locations that are at risk of hate-motivated crimes; $14.8 million for California Department of Aging’s Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), which serves frail older adults, including Holocaust survivors; $6 million for the expansion of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) at Pan Pacific Park and $5 million for a restorative justice pilot program that the Jewish Caucus described as one of its “Tikkun Olam-Repairing the World priority bills.”
For his part, Allen said he was proud of the work the caucus did to obtain the state funds.
“This has been a successful year for the Jewish Caucus and its work improving quality of life in the Jewish community and for all Californians,” he said. “In the wake of increases in acts of anti-Semitism and bigotry of all forms, destruction caused by the state’s wildfires, and the ever-pressing need for health care in our aging Holocaust survivor population and others who have experienced trauma, we asked more of our state leaders than ever before, and they stood with us.”
The California Legislative Jewish Caucus is comprised of 16 state lawmakers that advocate in the state legislature for Jewish interests. The group has both Jewish and non-Jewish state senators and assembly members.
As previously reported, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California worked with the Jewish Caucus on pressing for the funds for the camps.
In a statement, Jay Sanderson, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said, “The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles could not be more grateful for the work and support of the State Legislative Jewish Caucus…and Governor Newsom for their tireless efforts to secure this funding.”
Similarly, LAMOTH Executive Director Ben Kean said, “We are extremely grateful to Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Jessie Gabriel and the entire Legislative Jewish Caucus for supporting the Museum’s expansion project.”
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Foreign Relations Nabil Shaath said on June 26 that the Europeans created Israel as a way to dispel Jews from Europe, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports.
The Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam newspaper, which was translated by PMW, stated that Shaath, was speaking at an Iraq symposium. He said that Israel’s creation was part of a “European plot to settle the Jews who were unwanted in Europe in order to get rid of them, so that they created a homeland for them that would absorb them in Palestine.”
PMW’s report points out that Abbas’ Religious and Islamic Affairs Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash and PA Minister of Education Sabri Saidam both said similar things in 2018, reflecting a claim in a PA TV documentary that the Europeans viewed Israel “as an ideal solution to get rid of [Jews].” Such claims are anti-Semitic because they downplay the Jewish “connection to the Land of Israel,” PMW notes.
Abbas himself said in January 2018 that Israel is “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism,” which the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called out as “an anti-Semitic rejection of the undeniable Jewish connection to Israel. This false claim only raises serious doubts about the Palestinian Authority’s desire to negotiate, in good faith, a peace agreement with Israel, one which would recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.”
(JTA) — Twitter suspended the account of an Egyptian actor and writer who tweeted, “Now lets kill some Jews.”
Hesham Mansour’s tweet appeared Monday morning on his feed, which has over 800,000 followers. In June the television actor tweeted “All negativity in the world, caused by jews. All terrorism in the world, caused by jews. All depression, darkness, also jews.”
As of Monday afternoon his account was suspended; Twitter explained that the company suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules, which prohibit tweets that promote “violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on July 1 that the Israeli government would produce more evidence that the Iranian regime has been lying about their intentions to develop nuclear weapons, Bloomberg reports.
Speaking at an event honoring Israeli reservists, Netanyahu highlighted Iran’s July 1 announcement that they have exceeded the 300-kilogram uranium limit set under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu said, “When we exposed Iran’s secret nuclear arsenal, we proved that the entire nuclear agreement with Iran is based on one big lie. Now even Iran admits it. More proof will be revealed soon that Iran has lied all the time.”
Netanyahu was referencing his April 2018 press conference where he revealed various documentation showing that Iran has consistently sought to obtain nuclear weapons despite their statements to the contrary. This included the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Facility that was buried beneath mountains so Iran could continue developing uranium in secret.
The Israeli prime called on European countries to “stand by your commitments” to impose sanctions on Iran should they violate the nuclear deal.
“Do it,” Netanyahu said. “Just do it.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on July 1 that Iran has in fact exceeded the 300-kilogram limit set under the nuclear deal. Former IAEA Deputy Olli Heinonen told Israeli Army Radio on June 5 that he estimated that Iran could develop nuclear weapons in six to eight months. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on July 1 that the regime will unwind its nuclear development if the European countries forge a new deal with Iran.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters on July 1, “The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level. There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms. We must restore the longstanding nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran. The United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.”
(JTA) — When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark.
Ten minutes later the worshippers were back in the pews, doors unlocked, and getting ready to hear the weekly Torah portion. The first active shooter drill at this suburban Philadelphia synagogue was over.
“It was not a high-energy, kind of catching people off-guard kind of thing,” Cooper said five days after the June 22 drill at his Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El in Wynnewood. “We also wanted to let people know, more than anything else, that we’re on top of this. We have a procedure. We have people looking out.”
After a span of eight months that included shootings at two synagogues, in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, congregations across the country are actively drilling their members on how to act if the terror arrives at their doorstep. Some, like Beth Hillel-Beth El, have run active shooter scenarios during services. Others have detailed plans in place should a shooting occur. Others have trained a group of congregants in how to fight gunmen when they come through the door.
The active shooter drills complement a range of other security measures that congregations have adopted since the Pittsburgh massacre, in which a gunman killed 11 worshippers in October. They have ranged from locking doors and reinforcing windows to hiring armed security. Some congregations have encouraged members to carry handguns at services, while others have installed new restrictions on carrying guns in shul.
“People very rarely rise to the occasion” in the event of a mass shooting, said Michael Masters, executive director of the Secure Community Network, an umbrella organization that provides guidance to Jewish institutions on security procedures. “They fall back to their level of training. Our goal is to give people a plan in their minds so that if an event happens, they have a toolbox they can draw from effectively.”
The active shooter trainings often follow the mantra of “run, hide, fight,” which means to choose one of those three options and commit to it — either running to a safe place, hiding somewhere secure or fighting the gunman. As the congregants at Beth Hillel-Beth El filed through an exit at the front of the sanctuary, opposite the doors, ushers locked the main entrance and triggered a silent alarm to the police.
The trainings complement active shooter drills that have been taking place for years at schools, including Jewish ones. Beth Hillel-Beth El’s preschool has been running active shooter drills since at least 2013. Because the kids range from infants to kindergartners, sometimes keeping them quiet during the drill means hugging them or giving them lollipops.
“It not only makes it less scary to be playing the games, but it keeps their mouths active,” said Judith Scarani, the temple’s early childhood center director. “They’re kind of muted by the lollipops.”
In Salt Lake City, the Utah Highway Patrol gave Congregation Kol Ami, a liberal synagogue, a briefing on security procedures. While the briefing did not include an active drill, Rabbi Samuel Spector said just having a plan in place made people feel more comfortable.
“People were saying, ‘OK, now I’m thinking about what my escape route would be,’” Spector said. “If I’m here, could I throw my siddur at the person? I think that a lot of people, at least that night, started to think about their plan.”
Some synagogues have pursued more aggressive training programs.
Avi Abraham, an Israeli martial arts expert who teaches Krav Maga, the Israeli hand-to-hand combat technique, has taught self-defense courses to groups at more than 20 synagogues in the New York City area. His course consists of six hourlong classes for groups of congregants where they learn how to take down a shooter. He also offers the option of drilling the technique during services. The program costs $1,500 to $2,000.
Abraham teaches the groups how to collectively pounce on a gunman from the side as he’s entering a doorway, then to tackle him and take his weapon. He said the technique depends more on “sechel,” or good sense, than on physical strength. Those who aren’t fighting, Abraham said, should lie on the ground so as to be out of the line of fire.
“In a few seconds, people find energy and willpower deep down to make sure they can protect their community,” he said. “The whole point is do ‘mesirut nefesh,’” Hebrew for fully dedicating oneself to a cause.
If a gunman were to enter a synagogue, would the worshippers have enough mettle to execute their training in the heat of the moment?
Abraham and one of his trainees both say yes, that adrenaline and focus would kick in when it counts.
“We’re not done training,” said Mike Sigal, the volunteer head of security for the Orthodox Congregation Anshei Shalom in West Hempstead, New York, who did the training with a group of 20 congregants and is himself a black belt in karate. “We’re going to keep training. We’re going to keep practicing this. It’s got to become muscle memory, so you can alleviate some of that panic.”
Those who have done active shooter drills say that, of course, pretending a mass shooting is happening does upset the intentional tranquility that Shabbat prayers aim to create. But rabbis sigh that at least they want to be prepared.
“This is not business as usual,” Cooper said. “We just cannot do it like that anymore. We live in a world where it no longer can be assumed that things are safe, as unsettling as it might be. We have to run services in the world in which we’re living and praying.”
The Summer Fancy Food Show, which ran from June 23 through June 25 at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center, promised at least six football fields worth of specialty foods, including chocolate, cheese and olive oil to name a few.
The largest specialty food industry event in North America, the Fancy Food Show is known to showcase its field’s best products and newest innovations. As presented by the membership-based Specialty Food Association — founded in 1952 — attendees come from all walks of life, and over 34,000 people appear to have attended the 2018 Summer Fancy Food Show.
As getting through well over 1,000 booths — in addition to dozens of scheduled events and presentations — ought to be very challenging, I decided to make it easier for readers of Jewish Journal who could not attend this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show.
In turn, below are 18 – chai – must-try, recommended brands that exhibited this year at the Javits Center.
From The Ground Up From The Ground Up is a Sofi Award-winning line of delicious cauliflower-based, and now butternut squash-based, pretzels and crackers that are made from real veggies. The snacks are Non-GMO Project Verified, gluten-free certified and made with vegan ingredients. The brand’s snacks are a fun and tasty way to sneak in some nutrition at snack time, and these better-for-you alternatives rival the mainstream versions. The Cauliflower Tortilla Chips are especially worth your time and taste buds.
Photo courtesy of Shawnna Hall-Enoch
Saffron Road Saffron Road’s global journey began with a core belief that traditionally pure foods can be a safe medium to compassionately inspire and inclusively connect diverse cultures together. Regardless of language, religion, or culture, everyone loves authentically delicious, wholesome foods. Saffron Road debuted nationally in July 2010 in Whole Foods Market as the world’s first Halal-certified, antibiotic free and humanely raised frozen entrée. It has also since become the fastest-growing natural frozen food brand. Its latest frozen meal offerings include Thai Style Green Curry, Vegetable Biryani, and a Shoyu Ramen Bowl. Those seeking sweet yet savory snacks cannot go wrong with the (chocolate covered) Dark Chocolate Chai Crunchy Chickpeas.
Mutti Mutti is Italy’s #1 tomato brand and one of the fastest-growing brands of shelf-stable tomatoes in the United States. Mutti recently launched its newest line of Mutti Sauces for Pizza, as developed with high-quality ingredients and distinct flavor profiles. Each of these sauces pay tribute to three Italian cities famous for their distinct style of pizza: Positano, Napoli and Parma. The Positano variety is my favorite, as boosted with garlic and oregano.
Dolcezza gelato; Photo by Chloe Mata Crane
Dolcezza Earlier this month Dolcezza announced the national launch of its small-batch gelato as being available in Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. Founded in 2004 by husband-and-wife duo Violeta Edelman and Robb Duncan, Dolcezza handcrafts gelato from its Washington D.C. factory, as made with the seasonal and local produce and dairy sourced from grass-grazed cows in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My favorite of the seven Dolcezza flavors, you ask? The Stracciatella with the Roasted Strawberry as a distant second. After opening up a pint of Dolcezza, it is nearly impossible for me not to finish it within the same sitting.
Runamok Maple Runamok Maple is a maker of all-natural, organic maple syrup. At the Summer Fancy Food Show, the team showed off a new maple syrup flavor, Coffee Infused. It is a divine variation of their maple syrup and will serve as an ideal topper for a vanilla ice cream sundae, the ideal centerpiece for a classic Rhode Island-style Coffee Milk, and/or a superb ingredient for a cocktail like a White Russian. With a rich flavor infusion from Vermont Artisan Coffee and Tea Company’s organic coffee beans, this unique maple syrup is as addictive as your morning “cup of joe.” Husband and wife team Eric and Laura Sorkin notably produce Runamok Maple amongst over 1,000 acres of land in northern Vermont, managing 100,000 taps to bring their pure maple syrup to consumers near and far.
Belletoile Henri Hutin and his family began making artisanal cheese on their farm in the North of Meuse, France in the early 1900s. After the war in 1922, Henri expanded the family business into a full-on fromagerie in Lacroix-Sur-Meuse and established himself across the region as a “Master Cheese Maker.” The brand’s Triple Cream Belletoile is well-known in the U.S. and can be bought in almost all of the famous supermarkets out there, Trader Joe’s included. Belletoile’s Creamy Slices are sliced with wafer-thin precision and offer both unique texture and an incredibly creamy mouthfeel. The Belletoile Spreads with Goat Milk make for a versatile cheese that can be served on any occasion.
Happi Foodi With Happi Foodi, it’s easy to enjoy delicious, innovative dishes right at home. The team works to nourish souls through easily accessible meals that list all ingredients on the package front, allowing people to quickly understand the quality ingredients used in each dish. At last year’s show, Happi Foodi unveiled a new frozen meal brand set. This year, the company launched Cauliflower Wings with Sriracha Hot Sauce, a Bacon Pear & Feta Flatbread, Cuban Egg Rolls, Buffalo Chicken Avocado Egg Rolls, Tequila Lime Chicken, Barbacoa Mac & Cheese, and range of Street Tacos (Brisket, Carnitas, Southwestern and Al Pastor Chicken). To quote the great David Lee Roth, nothin’ but yeah.
Loacker chocolates; Photo courtesy of Brooke Miller
Loacker Loacker is a global leader when it comes to high-quality wafer, patisserie and chocolate specialties. Loacker’s products are made with a cream filling and contain no added flavorings, colorings, preservatives, or hydrogenated fats, making them better-for-you indulgences when hunger strikes. Loacker’s Quadratinis are my favorite of the company’s offerings, as they are light and crispy wafers enveloping four layers of smooth cream in a vast assortment of irresistible flavors, including Hazelnut, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Lemon.
Andre’s Confiserie Suisse André’s is a family-owned business that for three generations has been pouring passion into each and every one of its creations. Rooted in tradition, yet relentlessly inspired to create an unparalleled taste experience, André’s produces innovative yet classic Swiss-style confections that will delight your taste buds. New to Andre’s line of products is its Extra Dark Chocolate Almonds. Made with single original 80 percent chocolate, expect the right amount of sweetness beyond the usual Andre’s-level of quality. Also available for sampling at the Summer Fancy Food Show were Fleur de Sel Caramels and Mint Leaves. Furthermore, Andre’s packaging honors Swiss tradition, featuring custom-designed Scherenschnitte, which is the detailed art of continuous paper-cutting.
Render Food Render is the first company to partner with award-winning chefs to bring the inspiration out of some of America’s best restaurants and onto grocery store shelves. Render is a single brand partnering with chefs to create impressive food and beverage products that are accessible and make an easy upgrade to your snack, meal, or drink. Its State Bird Crunch, Render’s first product, is a savory, crunchy snack made of puffed quinoa, spices and seeds, as developed through a collaboration with James Beard award-winning, Michelin-starred chefs Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinksi of State Bird Provisions in San Francisco. On the beverage end, Bryner is a savory, vegetable drink developed with James Beard award-winning author and chef Nicolaus Balla of San Francisco spot Duna, which is famed for producing house-made versions of everything from pickles to paprika. Meanwhile, Weyla is a sparkling fruity beverage developed with internationally-acclaimed chef and James Beard award-winning author of the “Bar Tartine” cookbook Cortney Burns. Smart and delicious.
Beveri Beveri is one of America’s fastest-growing organic health. The company unveiled its new line of retail packaging at the Summer Fancy Food Show, which continues the tradition of its products being organic, gluten-free and kosher. The new packaging brings a whole new level of sophistication to the Beveri product line. The new designs are clean, bright and colorful and signify Beveri’s growth and transformation from being a regional brand into a national player.
Sabine’s Collections Snack happy and guilt-free, Baguette Bites are part of the newest generation of bread snacks from artisan bread snack brand Sabine’s Collections, a division of Bäckerhaus Veit. The new snack alternative is available in three delicious flavors: Olive Oil and Rosemary, Jalapeno and Cheddar, and Roasted Garlic and Chives. All of these varieties are vegan-certified and kosher, while also free of artificial flavors and colors, cholesterol, MSG, ADAs, PHOs, saturated fats and trans fats. My favorite of the Baguette Bites batch is the spicy and savory Jalapeno and Cheddar.
WASA Operating since 1919, WASA is the biggest crispbread baker in the world. Selling its products in 40 different countries— from Scandinavia to America —in 1999 WASA became part of the Barilla Group alongside Mulino Bianco, Harry’s and Pavesi. WASA is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, and attendees of the Summer Fancy Food Show had the opportunity to try the new WASA Thin Rye crispbread crackers with Executive Chef Kelvin Fernandez —Forbes Best Chef in America for 3 years in a row— in tow. WASA crackers integrate into recipes yet are also great for snacking on their own.
The Al Dente Pasta Company It’s been only one year since Al Dente Pasta Company — long considered one of America’s premiere brands of specialty pastas —formed a strategic partnership with Alb-Gold, a pasta manufacturer located in the Swabian Alps of Southern Germany. Together these two families of pasta makers successfully introduced six innovative and trend-setting pastas. The first of the new products were a line of little pasta shapes. Collectively named Piccolo Pasta they are made by rolling out egg noodles which are cut and formed into three unique shapes: egg bonnetti (little bonnets), turmeric pinchetti (little pinches) and spinach farfalletti (little butterflies). Made with fresh cage-free eggs and wheat sourced directly from local farmers, all ingredients are GMO-free, kosher and cook in just five minutes. Also recently introduced are three exciting plant-based pastas. Each unique flavor combination includes only two clean, nutritious ingredients: chickpea turmeric, green pea wild garlic, red lentil sweet potato. These gluten-free pastas are also organic, vegan, non-GMO and high-protein.
Wooden Table Baking Co. Argentinians are lucky to have a sharing culture. Wooden Table Baking Co. is an Oakland-based bakery dedicated to crafting the finest Argentinian treats. The brand has been making our alfajores and bonbons from scratch with high-quality, all-natural ingredients since 2011. It uses locally-sourced ingredients whenever possible and its flour, granulated sugar, cornstarch, chocolate, potato starch and tapioca starch are all non-GMO. Especially worth checking out are those Alfajores, which are two shortbread cookies joined with dulce de leche. 16 cookies come in each box, weighing in around two pounds in total.
Sardinia’s Pecorino PDOs The autonomous region of Sardinia had several varieties of excellent pecorino cheese on display at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Soup. The Pecorino Romando PDO, Pecorino Sardo PDO and Fiore Sardo PDO are all 100 percent sourced from fresh milk. The Pecorino Romano PDO particularly matures for at least five months (for table cheese) and for eight months (for grating cheese). The Pecorino Sardo PDO cheese is partially cooked and molded into its shape. The Fiore Sardo PDO has a thin, firm, wrinkled crust that is brown or grey in color. Three very enjoyable cheeses which I hope to consume again soon.
Bittermilk LLC Bittermilk LLC manufactures two brands of all-natural cocktail mixers, Bittermilk and Barcoop Bevy. Bittermilk is a line of complex, handcrafted cocktail mixers inspired by classic cocktails. Its second line, Barcoop Bevy, is a line of refreshing, balanced cocktail mixers made using a short list of real ingredients. Between the two brands, the company is the proud winner of eight sofi Awards, including the 2019 gold award for Bittermilk No.2 Tom Collins with Elderflower & Hops in the Cold Beverage category. Proprietors Joe and MariElena Raya stepped behind the bar for one lively hour for two afternoons during the Summer Fancy Food Show, mixing complex, unique variations of their proprietary cocktails using products from their two brands. A distinct presentation of a stand-out series of products, to say the least.
Cape Cod Sweets Cape Cod Sweets, LLC (also known as Cape Cod Provisions) sells specialty chocolate confections under the brand names Harvest Sweets, Cape Cod Cranberry Candy, Cape Harvest, Sweet Cravings, and New England @ Heart. Founded in 1996 and acquired by Cape Cod Sweets LLC in July 2016, Cape Cod Provisions now benefits from its parent company’s extensive background in Massachusetts’ cranberry and agricultural industry through increased vertical integration and investment in new technology. Demand from specialty food retailers has led to the introduction of Chocolate Gift Sets from Cape Cod Provisions’ chocolate company. As just one of the company’s new products to be featured at the Summer Fancy Food Show, five combinations are available in the chocolatier’s best-selling flavors and brand mixes. Each gift box contains two gable boxes with delicious chocolate covered fruits and either a signature Cranberry Bog Frog or five gourmet truffles. All selections include New England native fruits, like cranberries and blueberries, making these gift boxes the perfect vacation remembrance. Furthermore, the gift boxes are cushioned with 100 percent compostable aspen wood fill material while finished with a clear cover and festive stretch loop bow.
Who has not seen the image of two bodies face down in the water ruach of El Salvador) without responding with a tear in their eye, a pang of sadness in their heart, or even rage, knowing the source of this tragedy? Probably some Republicans or Trump followers for sure. Such an image emboldens their message—stay home and don’t bring your children to our country. Hard to believe this country could be so divided between the empathic and the ‘encrusted,’ people who, in their own pain and fear, have developed layers of protective crust, hardening their hearts, not unlike the Pharaoh we read about in Torah. The description in Hebrew of Pharaoh is “Vayichbad Lev,” translated as his heart of hardened. The root of the word is Chaf Vet Dalet, which has multiple meanings; it can mean honor, heavy, impediment, as well as the liver. The liver is an organ that has as many as 500 different functions including producing, converting and regulating various important chemicals and proteins making sure our bodies function appropriately and maintain a healthy, toxic-free system. Only our holy language could possibly make the same Hebrew letters represent a human organ and moral character traits. How is this possible?
As always, I am impressed with the rabbis’ intuitive wisdom about the mind/body connection. Not dissimilar to Chinese medicine that understood that the organs of our body expressed not only the state of our health, but also our emotional life often the root of physical symptoms and illness. The liver in Chinese medicine is aligned with the feelings of impatience, frustration, and anger. It is seen as the foundation of Qi, the energy flow of life, what we would call ‘Ruach,’ which means wind, spirit, and breath. The rabbis understood from Torah’s description of Pharaoh that the stubbornness and rage in his heart was a more encompassing condition. It was about a toxic and imbalanced emotional state connected to an impure organ, drastically in need of cleansing and healing.
So many, who suffer their own sense of mistreatment, lack of place, loss of work, parnassah (income), and dignity, see the other, the ones encroaching on their space, as the enemy. Deep down they fear displacement, and rightfully so, becoming the white minority race in this country. It won’t be long before people of color and foreign cultures will outnumber the ones that founded this country – the white, religious-puritans, running from powerful and elite religious and royal leaders who controlled their lives. These afflicted men and women came to American searching for freedom and equality, generations later, in the end punish and harden their hearts to those who want the same.
For those of us newer to America, exiled from our roots and decimated because of the Holocaust, our hearts are still malleable and empathic to those running from tyranny. Dedicated to Jewish principles we can’t help but cringe when babies are ripped from their mother’s arms or as survivors/children of survivors we tap into the cellular memory so painfully depicted in “Sophie’s Choice.” We have to respond, cry out, yell, and call on our politicians to destroy the evil that this administration has unleashed and show our strength and weight reflected in a ‘liver’ that is not only fully-functioning but maintains a mind/body that is whole, healthy and strong. We must ‘honor’ our basic core values.
