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There's No Such Thing as a Holiday Tree

A week ago, the governor of Rhode Island declared the 17-foot spruce in the State House rotunda to be a "holiday tree," not a Christmas tree. Governor Chafee is not Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, or any other religion that doesn't celebrate Christmas. He's Episcopalian. But for some reason, he seems to think that it is more inclusive to call it a holiday tree than to call it what it clearly is: a Christmas tree. Governor Chafee, I know you want to include us, but next time, include someone else. The result of this declaration was as predictable as it was depressing: antisemitic backlash. Of course, nobody has the bad taste to explicitly blame it on the Jews, but that's clearly what they're thinking. Radio personality Michael Smerconish (who I respect greatly though I don't always agree with him) didn't leave much doubt when he said, "I won't mess with your religion, and don't you mess with mine ." The clear implication was that a re

Reflections on the Anniversary of 9/11

Like many others, I've been thinking a lot about 9/11 as the tenth anniversary approaches. It was a strange time in my life. The Jewish High Holidays were approaching -- Rosh Hashanah fell on September 18th that year. The software company I worked for was developing a new product and had most of the staff (including me) working from home. I thought I'd share my experiences from that time, much of which has some Jewish context. September 8 It was the beginning of Selichot, an introspective period leading up to Rosh Hashanah. A local synagogue had a speaker and refreshments before the traditional first night Selichot service. He was a local rabbi who was born and raised in Israel, who spoke about the violence in Israel a year after the outbreak of the second Intifada. During the refreshment period, I was talking to my rabbi, and I made a comment to the effect that the number of people who die in violence in Israel is probably not greater than in the United States. I was thinking

A Very Veggie Pesach 2011: Butternut Squash-Cheddar "Risotto"

Last year, I offered a number of kosher-for-Passover vegetarian recipes .  Those posts went over very well, so I'll be providing a few new ones this year! This recipe is based on one I got from Cabot Cheese , which makes an excellent kosher-for-Passover run of sharp cheddar cheese . UPDATE : Cabot has discontinued its Passover run of cheese! Heartbreaking! There are other sources of Passover cheddar; I recommend Les Petites Fermieres if you can find it; I find it at Wegmans. Make sure it's certified for Passover; it isn't always.  Most of the ingredients were already vegetarian and kosher for Passover, with one key exception: Rice. "Risotto" is a rice dish, and rice isn't kosher for Passover (by Ashkenazic standards).  I initially thought of substituting matzah farfel, but I realized that quinoa would give it much more of a risotto look and feel. Of course, not everybody accepts quinoa as kosher for Passover (see my discussion from 2010 ), so you can try it