Peoplehood Follow Up

Last Updated on Friday, 7 May 2010 11:23 Written by bryfy Friday, 7 May 2010 11:20

Food Glorious Food: I have an idea – but I need your help:

Last Updated on Friday, 12 February 2010 02:48 Written by bryfy Friday, 12 February 2010 02:42

I just finished watching Jamie Oliver, the world renowned British chef – and I am inspired. His presentation on healthy eating is something that every educator, parent, grandparent and anyone else who feeds our children, should watch (and it wouldn’t hurt the younger generation to watch it either)

It got me thinking about the obligatory Jewish cooking classes that many Jewish supplementary high school programs offer – and why not?

They’re popular, relatively simple to plan, and you slip in the Jewish content piece without the kids even realize that they’re learning.

But here’s where Oliver challenges us. The real strength of Jewish education in the future – especially for our teenagers – will be offering quality programming, that competes with the many other choices they have, and us seen as adding real value to their lives. If it happens in a Jewish setting, with Jewish friends – that are the bonuses that we know Jewish socialization has to offer.

So here’s the challenge. Let’s design a Healthy Jewish Cooking curriculum. Chopped liver, challah, matzah balls, honey cake all have their cultural importance only matched by their caloric significance. But now is our chance to create a healthy lifestyle that is also Jewishly rich – how much more value added could one ask for?

So let’s hear from you – Please post for us all in the comments below: what are your favorite healthy Jewish recipes? Maybe even add a few sentences about the Jewish significance of your recipe. Let’s see if we can put together a cook book, and perhaps even a curriculum, that leverages the power of the blogosphere.

Who is Wise?

Last Updated on Saturday, 5 December 2009 12:14 Written by bryfy Sunday, 8 November 2009 09:49

How many times have we as Jewish educators quoted this passage from Ethics of Our Fathers? How many times has it actually happened – where we as educators truly do learn from everyone (especially our students)

Just recently I was giving a talk about Israeli music and I played the song “Hebrew Man”. (what a great song!)

After listening to the song I asked, “any comments?”

I expected the usual responses – “cool”, “who’s Cohen?”, “look – they included Jesus…”

And then it came – the question from a seemingly disinterested 14 year old male. “Well the song says that Moses said, “let my people go” in Hebrew. Does that mean that Pharaoh spoke Hebrew?”