NoVa Yom Hashoah observance focuses on diplomats

Portraits and biographies of World War II diplomats lined the walls of Beth El Hebrew Congregation and a local string ensemble played haunting Holocaust-themed music as visitors gathered at the Alexandria synagogue on Sunday evening for the Northern Virginia Jewish communal Yom Hashoah commemoration.

Women form cross-cultural community in Takoma Park

While waiting in the parking lot of her children's school a few months ago, Takoma Park resident Jenny Ash-Maher's friend, Sara Mussie, asked if she wanted to participate in a new Neighbor Circle. Ash-Maher, a massage therapist, didn't hesitate with her answer.

"I said, 'Yes!' immediately," she recalls.

Ethiopian native Mussie, 46, who works for Impact Silver Spring, a local nonprofit that had been organizing Neighbor Circles for several years, was looking to bring together local Jewish, African and Latina women for the first time.

Ash-Maher, 43, and the 11 women who formed the Neighbor Circle -- all living near and around the intersection of Maple and Philadelphia avenues in Takoma Park -- met for six consecutive Monday evenings, ending last week. The African and Latina women originally hailed from Ethiopia, Eritrea, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago.

Juggling matzah balls and Easter bunnies

Though most attention is focused on conflicts surrounding the Christmas and Chanukah seasons, the so-called "December dilemma," interfaith families also report dealing with tricky situations during Easter and Passover, the spring's two major Jewish and Christian holidays.

Seder invite for that special someone: When’s the right time?

Hospitality is more than encouraged on Passover; it is required. We are commanded to leave the door open for Elijah the prophet as well as to invite all who are hungry to come and eat.

But when you are dating, the hungry can often interpret a come-and-eat invitation as more symbolic than the shank bone on a seder plate. And your family can become either a boon or a liability.

So how do you know if it’s the right time to extend an invitation to that someone special?

'Star Trek's' final frontier course

When Star Trek: The Next Generation boldly went where no one had gone before, Jewish values and ethical teachings from the Hebrew Bible guided its journey -- as it had in the original series -- across the final frontier.

Well, maybe not intentionally.

Book teaches teens about healthy relationships

Carl Levy remembers the day he met Randy, his wife of 39 years. It was Oct. 15, 1965 and they were teenagers attending a United Synagogue Youth convention in New Jersey.

“I remember sitting at the table for dinner. Randy was a little late that night," Levy says, adding that "I remember her sitting down at the table. I remember being interested.”

Says his wife: “I remember what I wore.”

Evil in the Everyday

Even when the cameras weren't rolling on the set of Steven Spielberg's acclaimed film Schindler's List, British actor Ralph Fiennes struggled to distance himself from the Nazi character he was portraying.

Fiennes, nominated for an Oscar for his role as the sadistic concentration camp commander Amon Goeth, remembers a day when, on break from filming, he and actor Ben Kingsley walked the streets of Krakow's old Jewish quarter. The two, still in costume, came across a coffee shop with a sign reading the Jewish Cafe.

Kingsley -- Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern in the film -- suggested they stop for a bite to eat. For Fiennes, the visual impact of wearing an SS officer's uniform was so disturbing, he refused to go inside the shop.