Wot I no abut Kosher Inspectors

Source: Ha’aretz ()

Between stretching plastic sheets over the windows and placing buckets exactly under the leaks in the roof, settlers at a contested house between Kiryat Arba and Hebron are trying to maintain some sort of normal routine.

For humanitarian reasons, the Israel Defense Forces were willing to allow them to renovate the house so as to make it more livable. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided that the building will remain unchanged as long as it is occupied by the 20 settler families and their dozens of children.

Ten months have passed since the settlers entered the three-story building, which covers an area of over 3,000 square meters. The $700,000 to buy the house came from people in New York who originally wished to remain anonymous. But they are nurturing a grudge against Israeli bureaucracy, and this week, they decided to speak out: The buyer’s son, a religious Jewish businessman from New York who agreed to be identified only as B., spoke with Haaretz about his plans for the house and his motives for buying it.

“My paternal great-grandfather lived in Hebron before the riots and the deportation of 1929,” said B., referring to the murder of 67 Jews that summer by Arabs incited by false rumors of Jewish-orchestrated massacres of Arab Jerusalemites. “Part of my mother’s family also lived there. They experienced the horrors of the massacre and knew many of the victims.”

The carnage, 19 years before the creation of the state, had a deep effect on the Jewish community. The survivors were forced to flee Hebron, and their property was seized by local Arabs and occupied until after the Six-Day War of 1967.

“My family survived, and were deported to Jerusalem,” said B. He noted that his mother and father, both born in Syria, still visit Hebron regularly.

The idea of buying the building, known as Beit Hashalom (”house peace”), came up five years ago, he said.

“We were presented with several options for …

Source: Arizona Daily Star ()

My opinion Paul Greenberg

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.24.2007

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Ah,, tradition! What would we do without it? It just wouldn’t be the season without a squabble over religious displays on public property. By now it’s as much a part of Christmas as holly and mistletoe, if not nearly so nice.

Forget that business about the still small voice. Religion in this blessed land, at least when it become entangled with law, inspires not silent devotion but loud contention. So it was only a matter of time before somebody objected to the nativity scene on the grounds of the state Capitol here in Little Rock, Ark.

This time the objection came from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, bless its heart. It’s headquartered in Madison, Wis., which is the capital not only of that lovely if chilly state but of liberal — excuse me, progressive — thought in cool climes.

This lawyer letter from Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of aforesaid foundation, came complete with the usual season’s greeting in these confrontations, to wit, a not very veiled threat. If the State of Arkansas doesn’t respond to her demand that it take Christ out of its official Christmas, or at least evict the Holy Family from the Capitol grounds, she said her group "would have to take further action…."

The message was clear: Mary, Joseph, the baby, even the donkey and the wise men bearing gifts, plus a shepherd, a couple of sheep and the inevitable camel … they all must go. After all these years, indeed centuries, there’s still no room for them at the inn, at least if the Freedom From Religion Foundation has its cold-hearted way.

The nativity scene, says the foundation, "sends an unlawful message of endorsement of Christianity." Such language is par for the ill-tempered course. Why must protesters in this all-too-familiar Christmas pageant pronounce upon the law as if they were judges? Couldn’t …

Source: New York Post ()

RUSSELL, 24, AND HOYOS, 33

By CHRISTOFER CASSUTO

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December 23, 2007 — NOV. 30 -When Andres Hoyos proposed to Marisol Russell in September, he preferred to keep things simple. “Andres is very traditional, so he did the whole one-knee bit," recalls Russell, a receptionist at Jeffrey Stein Salon in Manhattan. “It was very romantic." Hoyos, a business manager for King of the Sea, a kosher food distributor based in Brooklyn, met Russell through a mutual friend in July 2006, and the couple wed in a simple ceremony at city hall. “I get to wake up with the person I love every day," says the bride. “What's better than that?" ESSENTIALS * Ring: a 2.5-carat diamond * a trip to Puerto Rico * Celebration: brunch with four close friends See The Year’s Best PhotosRead Today’s Horoscope

Source: Examiner.com ()

SAN FRANCISCO
(Map, News)
-
Presidio to Cliff House Bike Ride: This holiday weekend, take a ride from Presidio, south along Lincoln Street, following the cliff-top views above our city’s prettiest beach, Baker Beach. After rolling past the million-dollar homes of Seacliff and Lincoln Park, you’ll bike around Point Lobos and reach the Cliff House, where you can enjoy its historic edge-of-the-world views. Here, you can cut your trip short or continue down the Great Highway along Ocean Beach, around the south end of Lake Merced and then back. If you want to return by bus, you and your bike can pick up Muni’s 5-Fulton just south of the Cliff House — off the Great Highway and Cabrillo Street — and take the easy way back to Golden Gate Park or downtown San Francisco.

— San Francisco Bicycle Coalition; www.sfbike.org

Eat at Tangerine: Chef Sean Pattanasuvoranun’s brunch special is an artichoke and roasted-pepper omelet, which includes artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and goat cheese. Also available on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, this is a “veggie treat,” says co-owner Peter Goss. [10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 16th and Sanchez streets. (415) 626-1700]

Winding down: Today’s the last chance to see the 49ers play at home this season. The team plays Tampa Bay. [1:05 p.m., Monster Park, 602 Jamestown Ave.]

Romance and revolution: “Doctor Zhivago” screens at the Castro Theatre. Love found amid the Russian Revolution in this 1965 David Lean Oscar winner. [12:15, 4:05 and 8 p.m., 429 Castro St.]

Silver and gold: The S.F. Girls Chorus presents “Silver Bells, Golden Voices.” The holiday show includes Daniel Pinkham’s “Christmas Cantata” and lots of sing-along time. [7:30 p.m., Davies Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave.]

Oy division: Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, a local tradition featuring Jewish comedy on Christmas in Chinese restaurant, is back. Shelley Berman headlines this year. [5 and 8:30 p.m., New Asia Restaurant, …

Source: Colorado Springs Gazette ()

For all its sophistication, all its money, and all its decadent $45-just-for-the-soup restaurants, New York has only managed to export its most bluecollar meals: the floppy New York pizza slice, the humble bagel and the Jewish deli sandwich.

Of them, the sandwich is sometimes the hardest to find. In its classic form, it consists of a skimpy swipe of mustard and two woefully inadequate, thin slices of bread pulled into the orbit of a massive heap of hot corned beef or pastrami. The whole thing is held together by one slender toothpick poking from the top as a sort of monument to the futility of fitting the thing in your mouth. But where can you find such a beast? The Jewish deli is one of the few ethnic-restaurant niches the corporate world has yet to conquer.

To get a real sandwich, depending on your tastes, the pickings are slim, unless you go to Denver or other cities with large Jewish populations. So I was delighted when I spied an ad for Cathy’s Deli. There, under the words “Best Corned Beef & Pastrami in Town” was a pinup of that awesomely meaty sandwich, toothpick and all.

I had to go.

Unfortunately, like everything from Michael Bay flicks to mail-order brides, the real

thing rarely lives up to the ad.

The little restaurant in a new strip of shops in the North Powers retail megaplex has sunny yellow walls and hip corrugated metal accents that make it look more like a smoothie bar than a stereotypical bleak Jewish deli. (One of my favorite delis, Katz’s in New York, makes most third-world airport waiting areas look cheery by comparison.) But so what? The owner of Cathy’s, (that would be Cathy Anderson) is from sunny California. And besides, as far as I was concerned, she could nail Cabbage Patch dolls to the wall as long as the pastrami was good. But the pastrami ($7.99 a combo) was only OK, lean but not flavorful, and the service felt clunky.

…

Source: Market Wire (press release) ()

JORDAN, ONTARIO–(Marketwire - Dec. 20, 2007) - Mark Walpole, President of Vinifera for Life, announced today that the firm has received Kosher certification from the COR - Kashruth Council of Canada. The certification applies to all Vinifera powders produced according to the procedures set out by the Kashruth Council, and will now display the COR symbol on all their products.

“This tells consumers that the Vinifera powders are prepared to rabbinic quality standards. It also opens the door industrial and retail establishments which insist on Kosher certification as one of the criteria for ingredients,” said Walpole.

Rabbi Sholom Adler, Kashrus Administrator of the Kashruth Council of Canada, said, “We were pleased to work with Mark on his new food ingredient made from dried and milled grape skins. Mark was eager to understand the necessary steps and to adjust the process to conform to the kosher laws.

Vinifera for Life is a Jordan, Ontario based company founded by Mark Walpole in 2002. It makes a powder by drying the pomace (skins, seeds and stems) left over from the wine making process. The company then mills the dried pomace to a fine powder that can be used as an ingredient for breads, pastas and sauces. The powder retains the varietal grape flavours as well as the omega 3 and 6, vitamin A, iron, potassium, fibre and resveratrol of the grapes. After more than fours years in research and development to perfect the drying and milling process VFL now has a line of varietal grape powders (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Ice Wine) using patented processes.

The COR - Kashruth Council of Canada promotes the observance of kosher dietary laws by ensuring the availability and identification of kosher products and in particular:

- Providing kosher supervision and certification to types of food service production and manufacturing businesses;

- Promoting and encouraging the production, distribution …

Source: MSNBC ()

This time of year we are all busy, busy, busy. But we still have to go to work, tend to the kids, shovel the snow, trim the tree — and — if we are smart, be prepared for the last minute guests that drop-in, because it is bound to happen. Perhaps you get a warning phone call from Mom who says she is right around the corner, or maybe the neighbor just rings the doorbell and shows up. Bon Appétit magazine is here to help you get through the holidays stress-free and with style.

Here are two easy-to-make appetizers and one knock-out eggnog that will have your guests thinking you’ve been prepping all day. In reality, these are festive recipes that are as easy to store as they are to serve.

Whole grain mustard aioliBon Appetit Makes about one cupAioli is a classic, mayonnaise-style dip, rich with flavors of mustard, garlic and lemon. Whole grain mustard gives it texture as well as flavor. It can be stirred together in one bowl in just a few minutes and if covered well, it will keep refrigerated for at least a week. Make it now, have it ready in a decorative bowl, pick up some prepped crudités from the supermarket and you are good to go. It is equally delectable with a bit of leftover roast beef or boiled potatoes.Here are some tips: Start with a great purchased whole grain mustard (which keeps for a long time in refrigerator so you can have it around as pantry staple). Also, this recipe can be mixed right in serving dish very quickly. INGREDIENTS. 1 garlic clove. 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt. 1 cup mayonnaise. 2 teaspoons coarse-grained Dijon mustard. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juiceDIRECTIONSUsing mortar with pestle, mash garlic with coarse kosher slate until paste forms (or mince garlic and mix with salt). Transfer garlic mixture to small bowl. Mix in all remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover tightly and with crudités that you buy prepped. You can also use leftover roast beef or small cooked …

Source: Baltimore Sun ()

A former bar mitzvah lessons teacher in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community was charged yesterday with sex offenses that allegedly occurred nearly two decades ago against a then-12-year-old boy, according to the city State’s Attorney’s Office.

The boy was learning to chant passages from the Torah at Israel Shapiro’s home on Olympia Avenue in September 1988 when the alleged offenses occurred, according to court documents. The charges were filed Dec. 4.

Shapiro was charged with a third- and fourth-degree sex offense. According to Jewish Times, Shapiro, 57, no longer teaches bar mitzvah lessons and now works in a local kosher butcher shop.

Source: MiamiHerald.com ()

In a small storefront synagogue in Sunny Isles Beach, Rabbi Alexander Kaller leads a Jewish-Russian congregation that is bursting at the seams.

The 65 seats at the Chabad Russian Center surely are an upgrade from the rabbi’s living room, where the synagogue humbly started off in 2002, or the meeting room at the Oceania condos, where they moved to after a few months.

But the space is not enough. With more than 2,000 families, the congregation has grown in the past five years as Russian immigrants have flooded Sunny Isles Beach and surrounding cities.

Kaller, 31, who was born in Moscow, once worried about finding members. Now he worries about where to put them, and a 1,000-square-foot space in a strip mall at 157 Sunny Isles Blvd., tucked between Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Million Dollar Nails, is not cutting it anymore.

‘’Clearly, we outgrew it already,'’ he said. “I didn’t know the numbers before I came, but over the last five years there was a tremendous amount of people that moved here.'’

Immigrants from all over the former Soviet Union — most of whom call themselves Russian, regardless of nationality — made up almost 10 percent of the city’s population of about 15,000 in 2000. But the inflow has intensified, and Jewish Russians, Ukrainians, Moldovans and Georgians, just to name a few, have picked the Orthodox Chabad Russian Center as their home away from home.

For many of them, it’s not just about the worship; it’s the only way to unite a fragmented community.

‘’We’re not very religious,'’ said Odessa-born Larisa Frid, 37, as she stood next to her husband, Erik Frid, who was born in Minsk. “We didn’t understand it, we were always afraid of it, but you don’t feel stupid going.

Now, ‘’it’s just part of our lives,'’ she said.

For a Hanukkah celebration Monday inside a Hallandale Beach nightclub named 350 tickets were sold before the doors even opened. It was standing-room only and filled with …

Source: Boston Globe ()

Rave

The fish cakes are to fly for

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By
Beverly Levitt

Globe Correspondent
/
December 16, 2007

AMSTERDAM - Time and tradition wait for you here under a 50-year-old Coca-Cola sign. Sandwichshop Sal-Meijer marked its golden anniversary with a jubilant party in April and the kosher deli remains well-stocked with history and good feeling.Opened in 1957 by Sal Meijer, who knew a thing or two about curing meats and frying fish cakes, the unassuming shop was a meeting place for Holocaust survivors, who found the comfort of conversation and the kind of family feeling that had been common in Amsterdam before the war.The current owner, Maurits Blog, and his wife, Marjan Meijer-Blog, took over from her father in 1981 and have kept that tradition. When you enter, Blog gives you a warm smile and a hearty handshake, which might explain why the place overflows with what seems more like a gathering of friends than random diners.Sal Meijer is a second home to folks of all ages and colors, most of whom come every day to kibitz, gossip, and scarf down deli favorites such as the peerless corned beef and pastrami. Blog, as did his father-in-law, cures all the meat himself.But the star of the menu is the fish cakes, by themselves worth a trip halfway around the world. This archetypal Jewish deli, decidedly more Flatbush than 7th Avenue in American parlance, has received accolades usually reserved for 3-star restaurants from Amsterdam’s top food critic, Johannes van Dam. And like everyone else, van Dam has tried unsuccessfully to get Blog to divulge the recipe. When I tried, all I got was, “Well, it starts with fresh whitefish and mashed potatoes . . .”Sandwichshop Sal-Meijer, Scheldestraat 45, 1078 GG, Amsterdam off Churchillaan. 011-31-20-673-1313, Open Sunday-Thursday 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Friday till 2, and never on Jewish holidays.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.