It's Passover! Break Out the Easter Eggs!

Dan Zevin: It's Passover! Break Out the Easter Eggs! by Dan Zevin

Here in the Zevin household, April ushers in both Passover and Easter, reminding us that another year has gone by without my wife and I getting our act together and deciding what religion our children are.

I am a non-practicing Jew and she is a non-practicing shiksa. It wasn't an issue before we had kids, since both of us were fans of any activity that didn't require practicing. This doesn't mean I don't feel culturally Jewish, or that she doesn't feel culturally gentile. On second thought, she doesn't feel culturally gentile. I'd describe her as a culturally Jewish girl trapped in a culturally gentile woman's body. Especially the nose. It's no wonder she loves teaching our kids Yiddish words, yet tends to teach them the wrong ones. "It's so hot in here," she'll tell the kids. "I'm fapitzing!"

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Shabbat: life’s work

By Barry Kislowicz - Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 12:43 pm | Updated: 4:41 pm, Wed Mar 14, 2012. 
On Shabbat we stop working precisely so that we can start living. Shabbat is not a time to lock ourselves away in our rooms, to focus primarily on personal rest and relaxation, but rather to actively live with those in our homes – spouses, parents and children – learning, singing, talking or simply being together. By providing us with a protected, spiritual retreat once every week, Shabbat affords us the opportunity to deepen our too often unnoticed life-bonds with our loved ones and with God Himself.

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/religious_life/torah/article_e021ced0-6df4-11e1-9bcb-0019bb2963f4.html

A Frugal Feast Shabbat in our nation's capital

by Sasha Lyutse - Posted March 5, 2012 in Living Sustainably

Last week, I took Frugal Feasts on the road and co-hosted a hybrid Frugal Feast-Shabbat dinner with a dear friend in Washington, D.C. Now I have to be honest: food is more my religion than religion is my religion, but the marriage of the two was so seamless, with so many common and resonant themes, that it’s worth some reflection.

To date, all our Frugal Feasts have been held on Fridays, the evening that marks the beginning of Shabbat, or the Sabbath, in Judaism. Above all else, Shabbat emphasizes the holiness of time versus space. There is nowhere in particular you have to be to experience this day. There is no special occasion to wait for. Each and every week, wherever you are, there are 24 hours set aside for you during which you are reminded to slow down and dedicate yourself to rest, appreciation, and community, giving thanks for what is already created, instead of what remains on your list of things to create.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/slyutse/a_frugal_feast_shabbat_in_our.html

Foods of Shabbat: Come for the Kugel

What is there to love about Shabbat? It's a day to rest? It's a day to sleep? Or perhaps, like thousands of of men and women profess after their first full Shabbat experience, it's the food! Challah and fish, chicken and kugel, perhaps chocolate cake for dessert. What's not to like! Some Shabbat food is so delicious, one might even forget to check one's Blackberry! Here's a verbal taste of a Friday night feast, and a sampling of the deeper meaning of these traditional foods.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sr-hewitt/shabbat-food-come-for-the-kugel_b_1303161.html

GuelphMercury - Shabbat a time to recharge, enjoy life’s gifts

GuelphMercury - Shabbat a time to recharge, enjoy life’s gifts:

Shabbat a time to recharge, enjoy life’s gifts

“And the skies and the earth and all their array were finished. And in the seventh day God finished His work that He had done and ceased in the seventh day from His work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because He ceased in it from doing all His work, which God had created.” — Genesis 2:1-3

Shabbat is a day to restore body and soul to pray, learn and get your bearings.

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Shabbat.com gets people together for Sabbath meals

Shabbat.com, a Facebook-styled site where collecting ‘invites’ is key - NY Daily News:

Shabbat.com is an online global community with 25,000 members swapping requests to join each other’s Sabbath meals — a Jewish tradition honoring a break from the work week over wine, challah bread and at a four-course meal.

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An Interview with Shabbat - Fiction

An Interview with Shabbat - Fiction:

Leonard: My next guest is known throughout the world as the Holy Sabbath. He’s written a new book called Shabbat: Make My Day, and I’m very pleased that it brings Shabbat back to our show. Hello.

Shabbat: It’s great to be here, Leonard.

Leonard: Your first book was a memoir, My Days of Rest. This book is also about Shabbat. How is it different?

Shabbat: My new book tells you what you can do to maximize your enjoyment of Shabbat, the meaning behind some of the more popular Shabbat customs, and I give my recipe for gefilte fish.