Rabbi Nahman Walks into a Sushi Bar
I came late to sushi. It wasn't until a trip to visit my brother who was living in Tokyo that I really came to enjoy it and seek it out. Conveyor belt sushi can do that to a person. In the United States I found that we add another ritual to sushi that is not native to Japan...
Lost: One Afikomen
It is one of those stories that are just strange enough to be true. It is now Monday morning, about 36 hours since the second Seder and our afikoman is still missing. Halakhically (according to Jewish law) this is a problem. Or at least it would be a problem if we had...
Family Fare and other tidbits
It’s time to catch you up on some museum related news: The Goldsmith Museum is the first venue for Family Fare, Jewish Food Businesses in Baltimore. This traveling exhibit is the companion to Chosen Food: Cuisine, Culture and American Jewish Identity, now on view at the...
Hunger - here in Baltimore and around the world
Many of our congregants participated in the Friday evening program for Global Hunger Shabbat, where Rabbi Wechsler led a discussion using Jewish texts to illuminate how our tradition views the problem of hunger and our responsibility to work to alleviate it, both as individuals...
More Good for the Earth
It's been awhile since my last posting, but it's never too late to do something good for the earth, and in turn, for ourselves. First, let's recognize this week's Global Hunger Shabbat, sponsored by the American Jewish World Service, to promote food justice around the world...
The Rosh Hashanah Seder
In addition to the usual apples and honey, some Jews have the custom of adding special foods to their Rosh Hashanah table. Each of these foods has symbolic meaning tied to its name in Hebrew. We set our tables with bowls of these seven foods and before eating each of them...
Covering the Matzah - American Style
As we all know, the seder table is traditionally set with special items, including intricately decorated seder plates, Elijah's cups, and matzah covers. The Goldsmith Museum matzah cover, found in the Avodah case, is one such object. Made in the United States at the turn...
Purim Treats
Way back in August when this website was about to “go live,” Rabbi Shulman and I had a discussion about blogging. I had no idea what to write so I asked him what he imagined we would be writing about in our clergy blogs. Among other helpful things he said, “But I...
Gala Museum Celebration
A very special evening is coming up on Saturday night, January 22 – we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Goldsmith Museum and I would like to see you all there! We have a lot to celebrate, since our museum is one of the most widely recognized synagogue...
Thanks for the snacks
This morning, I walked into my office and found a bag of Baked Lays potato chips on my desk. That might sound like a kind gesture of nourishment, or a subtle hint to switch to low fat, except that they did not have a hekhsher (mark of kosher certification) so I knew exactly...
Prepping for the High Holidays
It’s the middle of August so I’d expect attendance at services to be down. This wasn’t the case this past Saturday (August 21) because we had a parade of three baby namings plus some milestone birthdays and celebrations up at the beemah. Still, I’m sure that many...
