On the Chocolate Trail

Leavened bread or not? While some of us may think of Passover, the question applied to Eucharistic bread and created significant division in the early Christian Church. The leavened bread for Sunday use was often baked at home by women. Over time, preferences shifted to clergy, church-produced, breads… and, the Eastern Orthodox Church preferred a

You may wonder: how did chocolate help define American Jews? Through chocolate, we see that Jews were part of America since its earliest days. Well, since 1701 at least, Jews in the Colonies made part of their living through chocolate. Several Sephardim, leaders of their New York and Newport Jewish and secular communities, participated in

When Logan Zinman Gerber felt enraged about the loss of reproductive rights in the U.S., she baked challah. Not any challah. She shaped it into a uterus. It wasn’t long after the birth of her daughter that Gerber, a longtime challah baker and staff member of the Religious Action Center of the Reform movement, considered

I’m grateful for this story written by Rachel Ringer, published at JTA/NY Jewish Week on December 20, 2023: (New York Jewish Week) — In 2006, Rabbi Deborah Prinz was on a trip to Europe with her husband, Rabbi Mark Hurvitz, when they wandered into a chocolate shop in Paris. While meandering about the store, Prinz picked

Sweet Treat is a delicious gastronomic adventure into the history and resilience of American Jewish chocolate making. This exhibition invites you to follow the chocolate trail to America, a scrumptious journey through time and place.   Chocolate gives us a lens to understand Jewish migration, as the chocolate trade parallels the migrations of the Jewish

Every summer during the years I was a congregational rabbi, I pulled out my annual High Holiday checklist to help me plan for the season’s intensity. Amid the sermon writing, cue meetings, neither Mark nor I, with our respective rabbinic duties, had time for home baked challah. So, most importantly for our children, my planning

Enjoy this naturally fermented Ethiopian bread to scoop up foods or as an accompaniment to a meal. Ingredients: 4 cups/600 grams teff flour 5 cups/1135 grams water, plus more as needed Directions: Based on recipe by Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez, from Hiyaw.

When I nibbled on chocolate at the Cyclones Game in Coney Island the other day, I felt as though I had hit a triple header of Jewish life in America. Not only was it Jewish Heritage Night at Maimonides Stadium (resonant of Jewish greats like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax), but I was eating a

Jewish breads transport us to ancient times. Major Jewish ideas about humanity and the Jewish people hinge on biblical bread stories. They define humanity and the Jewish people through bread. The first appears at the beginning of the Bible with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. When they leave the

The Jewish “starter story” of the Book of Exodus traced Jewish salvation from slavery to freedom through matzah which is perhaps the oldest type of bread in continuous Jewish consumption. The narrative recounted Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt through themes of rationing of grain supplies. Bread and its unleavened version, matzah, helped to fashion

Thank you to the following for their running these reviews and interviews about The Boston Chocolate Party: *At the Sydney Taylor Shmooze, Shirley Reva Vernick recommended The Boston Chocolate Party as a “robust contender for the Sydney Taylor Book Award.” She added:“This delicious tale of friendship and freedom features bold and highly expressive illustrations. Images

I was delighted to be interviewed by Deborah Kalb recently; she agreed that I could cross-post here: Deborah R. Prinz is the author, with Tami Lehman-Wilzig, of the new children’s picture book The Boston Chocolate Party. She also has written the book On the Chocolate Trail. She served as a congregational rabbi for three decades,

Celebrate the themes of freedom represented by the coincidence of the Boston Tea Party occurring on the last night of Hanukkah in 1773. Here are some suggestions, inspired by The Boston Chocolate Party: • Design a chocolatey invitation for guests. Copy and paste chocolate images from this website. • Suggest that guests dress in costume from

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Israel’s Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz recently reminded Israeli hospitals of the 2020 ruling of the High Court of Justice that permitted hospital visitors and patients to bring chameitz (leavened foods) into hospitals. In protest Idit Silman, MK from the Yamina party, resigned from the government over the the ruling, almost toppling the coalition even though

Purim’s March madness brings funny faced yeast pastries, gifts of food, festive meals, and donations to the needy. While Hanukkah marks the survival of Judaism, Purim rejoices in the survival of the Jewish people. Built around the biblical book of Esther (Megillat Esther), the creative costumes, silly megillah based skits, and crazy carnivals foment frivolity.