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Return to JOI Newsletter homepage
The Newsletter of the Jewish Outreach Institute
July/August 2010
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| Best of JOI Blogs |
Elevating the Discussion about Intermarriage
JOI responded in numerous ways to a new study claiming that outreach work is "misguided." Paul Golin responded in Jewcy.com, and JOI executive director Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky teamed up with Interfaithfamily.com CEO Ed Case to write a piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.com.
Strengthening the Jewish LGBT Movement
Paul Golin witnessed history being made by representing JOI at the first ever LGBT Jewish Movement-Building Retreat. The conference demonstrated how many bright, talented, and dedicated professionals are working on the issues of LGBT inclusion and equality.
Standing Together to Say we are All Jews
Writing in the JTA about the conversion bill controversy in Israel, Adam Bronfman believes that crafting a bill that calls into question the status of any Jew in the community is a disservice to not only that Jew, but to the spirit of Judaism. Everyone in the Jewish community must have equal standing. "Anything less," he writes, "is failure."
Sample Pages Available for New Book on Raising Jewish Children
Torah Aura, publisher of Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzy and Paul Golin's new book "How to Raise Jewish Children... Even if You're Not Jewish Yourself," has put sample pages from the book online. Now you can brows the book before it is released on November 1.
Top 50 Influential Rabbis in America
For the fourth time in as many years, Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky has been named by Newsweek magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America. He was recognized as one of the countries leading rabbinical advocates for outreach to intermarried families and unaffiliated Jews.
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| Dear Reader, |
In this issue of Inside JOI, we are thrilled to share with you a new project from The Mothers Circle: The Mothers Circle Cookbook. Cooking together as an extended family is a great way to pass down important traditions from one generation to the next. This inspired us to gather some favorite recipes from Mothers Circle participants -- women of other backgrounds raising Jewish children -- and share the warmth and passion they have for the Jewish community.
This project compiles recipes that Mothers Circle families consider to be "Jewish food" - foods eaten on Jewish holidays, recipes passed down from family members or friends, and any other foods that contribute to their family's Jewish experience. These unique stories and food traditions not only enhance the heritage of Mothers Circle families, but also enhance the greater Jewish community as well, as they demonstrate the delicious diversity of our entire community.
The cookbook also serves as an innovative fund raising project for JOI. If you have a daughter-in-law or good friend of another religious background raising a Jewish family, or simply want to support a more inclusive Jewish community, you can sponsor a page in this exciting new cookbook to celebrate her and show your appreciation. The cookbook will be unveiled at our upcoming Tribute Evening, where we will be honoring the women of The Mothers Circle.
Click Here to visit The Mothers Circle Cookbook website to find out how you can sponsor a page and help us honor these women!
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| Recipes from The Mothers Circle |
Honey Wheat Challah
From Rachael Cayley
This challah recipe uses ingredients from our farmers market (a local variety of whole wheat flour, wildflower honey, and pastured eggs); it is my attempt to blend Jewish cooking with our desire to eat sustainably and ethically. Sharing this challah is one of the highlights of our Shabbat dinner.
Ingredients:
2 tsp yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg for egg glaze
Directions:
1. Combine the yeast with the warm water and sugar. Let stand while mixing the other ingredients.
2. In large bowl, combine the honey, oil, egg, and salt. Add the yeast mixture. Gradually mix in the flours. When the dough is too stiff to mix, transfer to a floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Let rise in a lightly oiled bowl until the dough is doubled in size (this will take 1–2 hours); punch down and let rise again (another 1–2 hours). If time is short, the second rise can be omitted.
4. Punch down and divide into six equal portions. Braid. If you are unfamiliar with six-strand braiding, you can always use a simple three-strand braid. However, the six-strand braid is beautiful, and video instructions are easy to find on YouTube.
5. Place loaf on parchment-lined baking sheet and let rise for an hour, covered. Brush with a beaten egg. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Sweet Noodle Kugel
From Jill Frank
This kugel can be a side dish or dessert. My kids don't like the look of cottage cheese and wouldn't even try a kugel that was made with it. I substituted cream cheese and added sour cream to give it a smooth texture and now they can't wait for it to come out of the oven.
Ingredients:
12 oz wide egg noodles
1 lb cream cheese
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
8 oz can crushed pineapple (with juice)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
Topping (optional)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups corn flakes, finely crushed
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil the noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
3. Beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until there are no lumps. With the mixer running, add eggs one at a time. Add the sour cream, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in the crushed pineapple and raisins. Add the noodles and stir.
4. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch casserole dish.
5. If you are adding the topping, melt the butter and set aside. Mix the crushed corn flakes, sugar, and cinnamon together. Add the cooled butter and toss. Spread over the kugel and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
Gloria's Brisket
From Elizabeth Hendler
Here is a recipe that gets rave reviews from family and friends alike for all meals and is a revelation to my non-Jewish family about how good brisket can be. It's my mother-in-law's and has been honed under her tutelage. She is an instinctive cook, and it has taken me many years of watching and listening to get this close enough to hers.
Ingredients:
1 market trimmed 2-3 lb brisket (this is a brisket trimmed for the smoker in Texas, but the fat pad is removed—other brisket cuts are fine, but adjust simmering times for size and be prepared to trim fat after cooking)
Flour, salt and pepper for dusting
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion (sweet preferred)
1 14.5 oz tomato sauce, juice, diced or whole
liquid of your choice—tomato juice, water, wine or beer
1 cup baby carrots
2 cups cubed potatoes (any kind)
Directions:
1. Find a day when you have a spare afternoon to not really cook but tend a pan that will make you and your family happy for days. About six hours before you want to eat, disregard the package instructions on the brisket and start this meal. Really, the instructions for cooking time are wrong and ensure a tough dinner.
2. Dust the brisket in the flour, salt and pepper. Heat oil, and brown brisket in a large sauce or fry pan on medium heat. Next, onions can be sautéed with the browning brisket or can be sautéed separately. Within 15 minutes, the browned brisket and the onions should be together in the pan.
3. Dump in one to two cups of some tomato concoction. We have tried them all and all are good. Lower the heat way down. The trick to a good brisket according to Gloria is that it should simmer but never boil. Your main labor for the next six hours will be overcoming hunger and switching the heat from low to extra low and back and forth to keep it at the perfect sub-boil level. People within three houses of the brisket will be smelling this at this point, and showing up for dinner. This has happened to us, and should not be discounted—you may want to cook extra. Add liquid, in the form of tomato juice, water, beef broth, red wine, or beer, one or two times as your taste and experience dictates. It shouldn’t be saucy, but there needs to be sufficient liquid to keep the brisket on the braise for many hours. We have enjoyed all of these variations.
4. About one hour before dinner, when the brisket noses are starting to fall off, add cubed potato and/or carrots. Kids and dogs will be in the kitchen long before this point. Give small people beefy snacks of the meat from the edges of the tender beef that is to come. When you slice it, go with the grain (this is the opposite carve from a good steak). You want the meat to be slicing off and falling into shreds due to the long braising time. Serve with veggies on the same plate, and sauce on the side.
If you are fortunate, enjoy with my Mother-in-law's kasha, but that's another recipe.
Jewish Apple Cake
From Kathy Fain
This is apparently a Baltimore thing, as I have not found anyone outside of the area who has ever heard of it. It is EXTREMELY popular with the non-Jews in town, and sold in many grocery store. Excellent for Rosh Hashanah or anytime.
Ingredients:
3 cups unsifted flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs unbeaten
6 large apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp salt
Juice of 1 orange or 6 tbsp orange juice frozen or canned
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp baking powder
Directions:
1. Beat until smooth, flour, sugar, oil, eggs, salt, orange juice, vanilla and baking powder. The batter will be THICK. That is OK.
2. To the apples add: 3 teaspoons cinnamon and 7 tablespoons sugar. Let sit so that it makes its own juice. Then drain the juice off into another bowl for later use. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
3. Grease and flour LARGE tube pan and, starting with batter, layer the batter alternately with the apples, finishing with the batter.
4. Take 2-4 tablespoons of the juice from the apples and pour over the top (bottom) of the cake.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Let it cool COMPLETELY before removing from pan.
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Finding Identity in Jewish Cooking |
 A Blog on Jewish Cooking
Tori Avey is a blogger, screenwriter, member of JOI's Women's Advisory Board and, until her conversion in February of 2010, was a non-Jewish partner in an interfaith relationship. Her blog, "The Shiksa in the Kitchen," is geared towards people of other religious backgrounds who are married to Jewish partners and want to learn both the how-tos and whys of Jewish cooking. This covers a lot of ground, from rules of keeping kosher to explaining that bagels and matzah ball soup are only a small part of Jewish cuisine. It's educational, and offers a great way for interfaith couples to dig deeper into Jewish customs.
In preparation for the upcoming High Holidays, she is happy to share a recipe for a staple of American Jewish cuisine - the noodle kugel.
After a long Yom Kippur, there is nothing more wonderful than gathering with family and friends to break the fast. In our home, we always celebrate with a deli-style dairy meal: bagels and lox, blintzes, and of course noodle kugel.
After trying countless kugels over the years, I developed this recipe to satisfy my family's sweet tooth. It's creamy and sweet, but not cloying. The sour cream and cheeses provide a nice balance.
Here's the thing about kugel -- every person has his or her own favorite way to make it. Kugels can range from sweet to savory, dry to moist, dense to fluffy. Some people like it topped with cornflakes, some with graham crackers, some with cinnamon sugar. Some people like no topping at all, preferring to let the top noodle layer brown and harden to a crunchy texture. No matter which way you like your kugel, a good basic recipe is important. I encourage you to use this recipe as a guide. It's wonderful as written, or feel free to experiment. You can omit the raisins or pineapples, add dried fruit to the noodle mixture, add ricotta cheese in place of cottage cheese, change the topping or eliminate it completely. You can even substitute nonfat or sugar-free ingredients if you're watching your waistline. The only limit is your imagination!
SHIKSA CREAMY NOODLE KUGEL
Ingredients
1 bag of egg noodles (16 oz.)
3 tbsp of unsalted butter
3/4 cup raisins
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup white sugar
2 packages of lowfat cream cheese (8 oz. each)
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup lowfat sour cream
1 can pineapple chunks, drained and diced into small pieces
6 egg whites
Topping
1 cup honey graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
Serves 12-15
Kosher Key: Dairy
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add egg noodles, stir, and boil until tender. Drain. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the hot noodles and stir to coat.
2. Place raisins in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the  raisins soak for 10 minutes. Drain.
3. In a food processor or blender, combine 4 eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, cream cheese, cottage cheese and sour cream. Blend the ingredients until creamy.
4. Add creamy mixture to the noodles in the pot, along with the soaked raisins and diced pineapple pieces. Stir all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.
5. In a separate bowl, whip 6 egg whites till white and frothy. Fold the egg whites into the noodle mixture.
6. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl to form a crumbly topping.
7. Pour the noodle mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the crumb topping generously and evenly over the top of the noodles. Cover dish with foil.
8. Bake the kugel for 40 minutes covered by the foil. Uncover for the last 20 minutes of baking. May be served warm or cold. Refrigerate if you don’t plan on serving it the same day you make it.
© 2010 The Shiksa Blog All Rights Reserved
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| Who is a Jew? |
Redefining Jewish Identity in the 21st Century
By Paul Golin
Published August 16, 2010 in the Huffington Post
There is arguably no more challenging question for the Jewish community than, "Who's a Jew?" It continually arises, over issues ranging from politics (most recently, the ultra-Orthodox control over Israeli conversions) to entertainment and even sports (is Amar'e or isn't he?). One thing is certain: the overwhelming majority of Jews globally were born into it. There's more than a little truth to the expression "members of the tribe."
For those not born Jewish, joining the Jewish religion requires overcoming high barriers, even within the more liberal streams of Judaism. To put it in its simplest terms: for men, blood must be drawn. Get past the circumcision, the studying, and the meetings with rabbis to become an official Jew, and there is often still, shamefully, some other Jew questioning a convert's sincerity or authenticity.
Ultimately I believe the guidelines of "Who's a Jew?" must be expanded if the Jewish community -- particularly the American Jewish community -- is to remain relevant well into the 21st century.
There's precedent for changing the answer to "Who's a Jew?" In Biblical times, our forbears inherited Judaism through their fathers. In the Rabbinic age, it switched to the mothers, and the notion of "matrilineal descent" is still deeply ingrained in much of world Jewry today. But in modern times, the Reconstructionist movement (in 1968) and then the much larger Reform movement (in 1983) accepted Jewish identity through either parent -- provided that the children were raised and educated as Jews.
That bold decision to accept patrilineal descent has enabled literally hundreds of thousands of individuals to call themselves "Jewish" who previously couldn't, which many Jews support but others believe is a terrible disaster for the Jewish people. At the time, and for years after, the Reform movement was accused of splitting the Jewish people in two. But the reality is that we were always more than just two kinds of Jewry.
Today, while there are still only a few different synagogue denominations, there are hundreds of ways for Jews to express their Jewish identity. And that diversity could bode well for the Jewish future, because the American belief in the "marketplace of ideas" has extended to religions as well. Last year's "Faith in Flux" study from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives."
Unfortunately, until now the religion-switching that Pew identified has meant a net loss for Judaism. It makes sense, considering how much easier it is to leave Judaism than to enter! But the past does not have to dictate the future. If only we could "open the gates" of Judaism, as the late researcher Gary Tobin advocated, and offer all the various ways of being Jewish, many more people might choose to join us.
Absorbing large waves of newcomers is a scary proposition for many Jews, even in Israel, a country that has proven that it can do it over and over again. For American Jews, particularly the majority who are not religiously observant but are still connected culturally or "ethnically," the notion that anyone would actually be attracted to Judaism often seems baffling, though it shouldn't. In many cases, newcomers see the values in our traditions even better than those of us who grew up in the community.
This inability to graciously accept newcomers is a phenomenon I call "Born-Jewish Privilege." It is a Born-Jewish Privilege to be able to ask someone, immediately upon learning that he or she is a convert, "You mean you actually chose to become Jewish?" -- even as an attempted joke. And it is a Born-Jewish Privilege to then turn around (at perhaps the very same event!) and ask the non-Jewish spouse of a Jew, "Do you plan to convert?"
It is a Born-Jewish Privilege to not do a single thing Jewish all year -- not attend synagogue, not observe Shabbat, not donate to Jewish causes -- yet feel completely 100-percent Jewish while at the same time questioning the authenticity of an intermarried household where the non-Jewish parent is doing all of those things in order to instill a Jewish identity in his or her child.
Overcoming Born-Jewish Privilege will be very difficult, because the privileged are always loath to give up their status. But pointing out that the privilege even exists, by a simple accident of birth, is the first step. Helping Jews recognize that there's something worth sharing about Judaism with the rest of the world seems like another logical step. That Amar'e Stoudemire's recent Jewish journey would provoke such fascination in the Jewish community a full decade after Madonna embraced Kabbalah, or that Chelsea Clinton marrying a Jew would require so much open soul-searching about Jewish intermarriage when more than half of all American households containing a Jewish spouse today are intermarriages, means we're still stuck in the same place as we were decades ago, without providing increased access for more people to make the Jewish journey with us.
In most cases, it doesn't really matter "Who's a Jew," because it's rarely an issue of halakhah (Jewish law). If Amar'e wants to read from the Torah at a Conservative synagogue during Shabbat services, we'll worry about it then. Odds are good that he doesn't want that. Odds are also good that Jews will trip over themselves helping him find what he's looking for, because he's a superstar. (And as a long-suffering Knicks fan, I have no problem with that.) But what about the million non-Jews married to Jews in the U.S., almost all of whom are not famous like Amar'e? Or the children and young adults from intermarried families? What is the Jewish community doing proactively to incorporate them? Still too little.
Some have attempted to find special names for the non-Jews among us, like ger toshav (resident alien), but how about, for those who want it, "Jewish"? Intermarried families raising Jewish children are, as Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute, simply calls them, "Jewish families."
The Jewish community does not have a unifying creed that can easily be signed onto, the way you can call yourself Christian by accepting Jesus as Savior. There's a Jewish movement that accepts the Torah as the exact word of God, and a Jewish movement that denies the existence of God; there are Jews for whom Zionism is their most important belief, and Jews who reject the establishment of the modern State of Israel as immoral. There is scant little we agree on, and we need to define ourselves to newcomers based on what we are, not what we're not. The Biblical Ruth had a simple credo as her "conversion" to Judaism: "Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God." The "people" in that phrase came before God for a reason. Would it be so bad for the Jews if we reverted back to that kind of conversion?
Or perhaps we can draw our credo from Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, who is quoted as having said, "I consider as Jewish anyone who is meshuge [crazy] enough to call themselves 'Jewish.'"
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| Other JOI Highlights |
Save the Date for our 2010 Tribute Evening!
Join us on Monday, November 1 at the Harmonie Club in New York City where we will be honoring the women of The Mothers Circle as well as Her Excellency Meryl Frank, who was recently appointed by President Obama to serve as the United States Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Meryl will receive our 2010 Visionary Award for her outstanding leadership in the empowerment of disenfranchised women throughout the world.
JOI Outreach Webinar
There is still time to register for The Theory and Practice of Effective Outreach, an innovative four-part webinar series that will better enable Jewish communal professionals and volunteer leaders to connect with those on the periphery, including intermarried families and unaffiliated Jews, and engage them in Jewish life.
Participate in an Important New Survey
To get a better picture of American Jews, the Jewish Outreach Institute is conducting a comprehensive and pioneering survey and would love to hear from the full spectrum of experiences, from those born to one or no Jewish parents to those born to two; from those who do not usually participate in communal Jewish life to those who are actively involved and everyone in between. We hope you will take the survey and invite others to take it as well. Please feel free to contact Paul Golin at PGolin@joi.org with any questions.
JOI Welcomes New Board Members
JOI is excited to welcome a new member of our Board of Professional Advisors (Rabbi Jason Miller) and four members to the President's Advisory Board (Dr. Ivan and Melissa Bank, Dr. Richard and Patti Shlansky-Goldberg). With the Banks coming from New Orleans and Dallas and the Shlansky-Goldbergs hailing from the Greater Philadelphia area, their participation reflects the continued geographic diversity of our organization. And Rabbi Miller, ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and working at Camp Tamarack in the Detroit metro area, reflects the diversity of communal perspectives of those who advise and support us.
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| You Can Help! |
We believe "outreach" is about the organized community giving, not asking, so all JOI programming is free to participants. However, these programs still require resources. If you are already engaged in the Jewish community and consider it important to reach those who are not yet benefiting from all our community has to offer, we ask that you please support our work by making a financial contribution. Thank you for your generosity and commitment.
Check: Please make your check payable to the Jewish Outreach Institute and mail to:
1270 Broadway, Suite 609, New York, NY 10001.
Online: Please give with a credit card online at our website, www.JOI.org/help.
Questions? Please contact, Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, Executive Director, at: KOlitzky@JOI.org or call 212.760.1440.
The Jewish Outreach Institute is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization and contributions are tax deductible in accordance with the law.
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© 2010 Jewish Outreach Institute (JOI.org). JOI is a national, independent, nondenominational organization dedicated to creating a more inclusive Jewish community toward all who would join us, especially intermarried families and disengaged Jews, by working to transform existing institutions and by creating new programs when necessary.
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