Along with all the happy and joyous traditions we have at this time of year, it has unfortunately become the norm in many places to take this time to vandalize religious symbols, houses of worship or even cemeteries. My students are often surprised to hear that anti-Semitism is alive and well in this country. It is on the one hand nice to see that there is still innocence in this world and on the other hand sad to see that they - or their parents - have their eyes closed to the realities around us.

I would hope that we as adoptive parents, who hopefully take more time in teaching our children about tolerance and acceptance of differences, can lead the way in changing the moral standards... more

So, no offense to all you Christians out there, but there's nothing much for us to do in this country on Christmas. And I'm fine with that - I'm all for stores giving their employees time off, and I actually like it when the world is quieter and seems to shut down for a bit. But it's left me some years with trying to figure out what to do, or driving to the supermarket to go grocery shopping, totally forgetting that it's December 25th.

If you don't already know, it's a huge thing for Jews to go to the movies and eat Chinese... more

Here are two "classic" latkes - potato pancake recipes for Chanukah. It's traditional to serve food fried in oil to commemorate the miracle from the story, where the oil for the Temple's menorah lasted eight days instead of one. I'd give you my recipe, but since I don't really follow one, you'd have to come to my kitchen and watch me cook. The first recipe is from epicurious.com and looks close-ish to mine, except I use matzo meal instead of flour, and all oil to fry the latkes in.

CLASSIC POTATO PANCAKES

This is the classic latke, made with little more than grated potatoes and... more

"Hey, when is Chanukah?" It's only when I get asked that question by a non-Jewish friend that I mumble something and then remind myself that I must look at a calendar. Christmas is December 25th, year in and out, because Christian holidays are based off the Gregorian calendar. July 4th never fails to come out between the 3rd and the 5th. But the Jewish calendar is on the lunar year, which means that holidays always come out on the same day on the Jewish calendar, but seem to move without rhyme or reason on the Gregorian calendar.

There is actually... more