Features

Off the Shelf: A Southern Jew during the Civil War

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Did Jews own slaves in the antebellum American South? Did these same Jews support the Confederate cause? While it may be distressing to contemporary American Jews to learn that their co-religionists supported slavery and the Confederacy, Jews were found on both side…

Off the Shelf: The intimate lives of Jews

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

“Oh, the subtitle is a pun,” I thought after receiving a copy of “Sex: Jewish Positions” edited by Miriam Goldmann, Joanne Rosenthal and Titia Zoeter (Hirmer Publishers/University of Chicago Press). Then I realized that “Sex” was not a book of essays off…

Jewish Online Resources 1/24/25

By Reporter staff

A variety of Jewish groups are offering educational and recreational online resources. Below is a sampling of those. The Reporter will publish additional listings as they become available. 

Roundtable will hold several courses. The cost to attend each course is $132: “…

New in Books: Kalaniot Books to release new children’s books for spring

Kalaniot Books announced that it will release three new children’s picture books for the spring 2025 season:

  • “Max’s Mask: A Purim Story” by Havvah Deevon and illustrated by Itay Bekin (Release date: February 4): Max is nervous because this is his first day at a new school. He hope…

On the Jewish food scene: The fallow period

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Hanukkah is over, and Purim and Passover are still months away. What’s a Jewish girl to do if she wants some special holiday food? Well, there is one holiday coming up: Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees, begins the evening of Wednesday, February 12, this ye…