At Chanukah we celebrate the miraculous rededication of the Second Temple by Judah Maccabee. In so doing the festival\’s complex historical background fades to backstory. The part we more typically overlook is that the Maccabean revolt was not just a struggle versus Antiochus, an anti-Jewish ruler, but against a larger group of Jews who wanted to be more Greek and less Jewish.
Celebrated cookbook author and chef Joyce Goldstein can trace her bloodline to a Russian shtetl, but her heart and soul lie in the Mediterranean.
My mother was surprised when I said I was reviewing Chanukah books for kids. \”Is there a lot out there?\” she asked.
You can find something for everybody in books available this holiday season.
When the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles celebrated the launch of its anti-illiteracy program KOREH Los Angeles in September, the focus was on educators and celebrities to read children\’s books to kids. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the spotlight at that event were some local women who are equally vital in the campaign against illiteracy: the creators of the children\’s books themselves.
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