Breaking the Fast after Yom Kippur

Posted on by
Reply
Share on Tumblr Share

After fasting for Yom Kippur in which no food or water is consumed for over 25 hours, most Jews heartily welcome the day after, where the fast is officially broken and deliciousness is consumed.

So what is generally eaten?

The answers range, according to culture:

  •  Iranian Jews often eat a mixture of shredded apples and rose water called faloodeh seeb.
  •  Polish and Russian Jews take to some tea and cake.
  •  Syrian and Iraqi Jews prefer round sesame crackers that look like mini-bagels.
  •  Turkish and Greek Jews partake in a sweet drink made from melon seeds.

In American Jewish households, I found delicious recipes to break your fast deliciously (see the link below). they include:

  •  Herring In Cream Sauce With Apples And Walnuts
  • Lox, Eggs, And Onions Quiche
  • Carrot Cake Kugel
  • Cheese Blintzes With Cherry Sauce
  • Chocolate Chip Rugelach

Is someone you know celebrating this High Holiday? Send them one of our Yom Kippur ecards from our collection.

The Puppy is fasting, and will not break it for even a bone. Good puppy!

Here is the site with all the delicious recipes: http://main.kitchendaily.com/2010/08/23/yom-kippur-break-the-fast-recipes/

Share on Tumblr Share

What is your Yom Kippur? Will you Forgive or Ask for Forgiveness?

Posted on by
Reply
Share on Tumblr Share

“No sin is so light that it may be overlooked. No sin is so heavy that it may not be repented of.”  – Moses Ibn Ezra

As a curious and open-minded individual, I’ve come to embrace aspects of all holidays. Each offer up history, lessons, traditions and reflections that we can all learn something from. Yom Kippur is certainly one.

So what is Yom Kippur?

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the years for Jews. It is also called the Day of Atonement, a 25-hour period dedicated to fasting, intensive prayer and a long visit to your synagogue. Even those who aren’t overly religious tend to regard Yom Kippur seriously (meaning the synagogues are packed).

There are three essential components of Yom Kippur:

  • Teshuvah (Repentance)
  • Prayer
  • Fasting

The ten days prior to Yom Kippur are dedicated to repentance. One should seek out and request forgiveness to anyone he or she offended so that the New Year can begin with a clean slate.

Here’s the interesting part: if your first request is rebuffed, you should ask at least two more times. At that point, the offended should grant you forgiveness.

What a cool tradition! It seems to take into account that forgiveness is a process, not a split-second occurrence. Forgiveness can also require several attempts (who doesn’t get that?).

And let’s not forget: the scorned party must also do his or her part. In short, when someone has reached out to you several times, requesting heartfelt forgiveness, it is also your moral duty to accept it to the best of your degree.

Couldn’t we all stand for that “clean slate” feeling. This Yom Kippur, Jew or Gentile, why not seek out the people with whom you can make amends? Yes, it certainly takes courage and resolve…and it often takes several attempts. But you’ll feel a weight lifted, simply by reaching out and trying.

And maybe, just maybe, when more of us seek out forgiveness during a certain period of time, it heals the world that we live in, even just a little.

Is someone you know celebrating this High Holiday? Send them one of our Yom Kippur ecard from our collection.

The blowing of the Shofar, a ram’s horn.

Share on Tumblr Share

Quick and Easy Birthday Party Themes

Posted on by
Reply
Share on Tumblr Share

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have a dozen birthdays to contend with every month, on average. Of course, it’s a blessing to have so many friends and family, but I’m not Martha Stewart, so I need to keep organizing birthday parties simple.

Here are a few quick and easy tips for the next birthday in your life:

  1. Music-themed birthday. For my friend’s 40th birthday, I created a playlist entirely consisting of songs that came out the year he was born. It was simple and fun to do and added a certain fun nostalgia to the evening.
  2. An easy costume party. Costumes can be a lot of work but if you give people a loose theme to work within, everyone can look great…and match. For my sister’s birthday, we picked a “sea theme” and asked people to dress accordingly. (My sister loves the ocean.) Some went all out (including one friend who wore a hat with fish hanging from it). But many simply wore green and blue, which made for a great group photo. Another idea? Pick a movie and make that the “theme” for the night.
  3. Dedicated dishes. This is a fun idea: ask people to bring a dish or beverage that reminds them of the person being celebrated. This not only nudges people to be a bit creative but also helps fill the food table. An example? My one activist friend received several spicy dishes that paired well with her fiery personality.

And even if you can’t do any of the above, definitely remember to send your loved one birthday ecards. It’s a virtual party!

The Running Birthday Cake – our newest birthday ecard, created by our truly gifted animator, Tom Wink.

Share on Tumblr Share

Oh, Brothers

Posted on by
1
Share on Tumblr Share

My brother’s birthday was a few weeks ago. (I sent him this funny birthday e-card.) We’ve never been super close but over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate the bond that we do share.

The problem is that many of us believe our sibling relations should be like the movies: tight, loving, comfortable and close.

But, ah, life is not like the movies (shocker, right?). And our sisters and brothers are who they are. As the years go by, hopefully we can discover the common ground and peacefully acknowledge the differences.

Here are some quotations on brotherhood that may fit your fraternal relations. (The first one explains what I said above…but a little better!)

“Our siblings. They resemble us just enough to make all their differences confusing, and no matter what we choose to make of this, we are cast in relation to them our whole lives long.”  – Susan Scarf Merrell

“A sibling may be the keeper of one’s identity, the only person with the keys to one’s unfettered, more fundamental self.”  – Marian Sandmaier

“Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago – the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider…. It doesn’t seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we’ve traveled.”  – Jane Mersky Leder

“It snowed last year too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.”  – Dylan Thomas

“The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder.”  – Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

“When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.”  – Antisthenes

“My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard.  Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’  ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply.  ‘We’re raising boys’.”  – Harmon Killebrew

“The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose.”  – Garrison Keillor

“As we grew up, my brothers acted like they didn’t care,
but I always knew they looked out for me and were there!”  – Catherine Pulsifer, Inspirational Words of Wisdom

Oh, brothers! I don’t care for brothers. My elder brother won’t die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“What strange creatures brothers are!” – Jane Austen

Indeed, they can be such strange creatures. This birthday, send your strange creature (I mean brother) an e-card to remember. We have a fun collection of birthday e-cards for brother from which to choose.

Yes, my brother deserves a singing Elvis chicken. Don’t we all?

 

Share on Tumblr Share