It is early Shabbos morning. I’m relaxing on the couch with my ritual morning coffee, inhaling the steam, wrapping myself in the serenity of Shabbos. My siddur rests on my lap, awaiting my sacred time spent with God. Honestly, I carry God with me all the time, sometimes consciously and other times unconsciously. Sometimes I […]

As the son of a Holocaust-surviving cantor, David Fishof spent his childhood surrounded by Jewish liturgical music. Then as a young adult, he added in rock ‘n roll. Fishof grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey and attended Breuer’s Yeshiva in Washington Heights. “I had a brother Joey who was a graduate of Yeshiva University. He […]

Dear JITC- Mayim Bialik just mentioned cholent on Jeopardy. What is it and why do Jews eat it? Thank you, A Dear A- Thanks for your question. Cholent is a form of stew traditionally eaten at the Shabbos afternoon meal. The reason for it is comparable to the reason for lighting Shabbos candles. Exodus 35:3 […]

A question about the Shabbos staple delicacy cholent stumped Jeopardy! contestants this week, and observant host Mayim Bialik helped explain the answer. As the $400 “Sabbath” category clue presented was a photo of the traditional slow-cooked stew, alongside the following: “Exodus 35:3 bans doing this on the Sabbath, hence the Jewish dish ‘cholent,’ which can […]

A surprise extended stay in Washington DC due to President Biden attending to the crisis in Afghanistan led to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s team scrambling to make accommodations for his Shabbos observance in the U.S. Capital. He, along with the large contingent of security, staff and journalists with whom he was traveling, made impromptu plans […]

A new kind of phone call has been coming in to General Electric’s technical support: those of people who have inadvertently and unknowingly activated their oven’s Sabbath Mode. This handy feature, designed to help observant Jews keep religious laws, might be confusing to users of other faiths when they encounter it, but it is a […]