Exhibition Opening Wednesday, June 29 at 6 pm To celebrate the exhibition Nourishing Tradition: Jewish Cookbooks and the Stories They Tell, the Center for Jewish History is excited to welcome Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Bonnie will share some of her experiences with Jewish cookbooks over many years of selling rare and out-of-print cookbooks, and bring a fresh perspective to the real…
Attention foodies! Apply now for Tent: Food NYC. Through cooking demos, writing workshops, food crawls, and museum visits you’ll be immersed in the diverse world of Jewish food culture from October 19-26th. The program is free and open to all Americans and Canadians ages 21-30. Hurry! The deadline is June 29, 2014.
by Elli Smerling, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History Official Jewish law requires 10 to be in attendance for communal prayer. Unofficial Jewish law requires that if 10 people are in a room, there must be food. Every Jewish gathering, celebration or holiday revolves around food. You may ask: What about fast days? Well, they’re about food as well. Fact: Not eating food…
Historic Recipes from the Jews of Alsace-Lorraineby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History In my last blog post, I touched upon three upcoming events here at the Center for Jewish History: “Sex, Yiddish and the Law: Jewish Life in Metz in the 18th Century” (which concerns the “cultural, legal and sexual lives of members of the Metz Jewish community”) on…
Food and the Jews of Alsace-Loraineby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History “Circles of Justice: Law, Culture and the Jews of Metz in 18th Century France” is now on view in The David Berg Rare Book Room here at the Center. Related programming includes “Sex, Yiddish and the Law: Jewish Life in Metz in the 18th Century” this Monday,…
American Food and Jewish Tasteby Rachel Rudman, M.A., Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History In my first weeks as a research intern, I’ve had the opportunity to begin exploring the various collections housed at the Center for Jewish History. Coming from a background in women’s studies and Jewish studies, I find myself drawn to themes of traditional women’s roles and gendered language. Material…
“Knaidel” is the Winning Wordby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Perhaps you heard that a Yiddish word won the National Spelling Bee for Arvind Mahankali. Yes, knaidel is spelled K-n-a-i-d-e-l according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary–the official dictionary of the National Spelling Bee. As you may know, Yiddish is a fusion language of principally German, Hebrew…
Reflecting on Memorial Dayby J.D. Arden, M.L.I.S. candidate, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History Above image: National Jewish Welfare Board Records, 1952, Passover in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Starr, 1575 Federal. Pfc. Morton Gutstadt of Fitzsimons Army Hospital tried out the gefilte fish of Mrs. Starr. From the Collections of the American Jewish Historical Society. Honoring the memory and sacrifice…
“Yo Quiero” Sephardic Matzah Cookies!by J.D. Arden, M.L.I.S. candidate, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History This Passover season, I invite you to try your hand at some sweet recipes from the Sephardic community of Turkey. For over 500 years since the expulsion from Spain, the Sephardic Jewish community in Turkey has maintained a cultural heritage of Ladino language, music—and tasty cookies and…
American Culture in Haggadahs from the Collectionsby David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History Last year I reflected on the vast variety and volume of Haggadahs in my blog post “Dayenu: A few Passover Haggadot would have been enough…really?” This year I took a closer look at a handful of Haggadahs in the library of the American Jewish Historical…
Holiday Hamentaschenby J.D. Arden, by J.D. Arden, M.L.I.S. candidate, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History Reading up on the history of Purim in this previous blog post “Chag Purim!” may inspire a healthy appetite or even an interest in trying out some holiday recipes yourself. Here are a couple suggestions: classic hamantaschen, of course (with some illustrations to help you make a…