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.

OK to sing carols?

When Charlotte York, a character from the HBO television series "Sex and the City," converted to Judaism, she poignantly said farewell to her Christianity by decorating a final Christmas tree -- in July.

For many real-life converts to Judaism, the December holiday season brings both joy found in their new religious traditions and nostalgia for their old ones.

A Jewish gag's journey to the 'Tonight Show'

Late-night television audiences have come to expect zany song-and-dance numbers from Conan O’Brien’s “The Tonight Show,” but the show’s recent Mormon Christmas send-up actually had its roots in an unusual place: an offline brainstorming session among progressive Jewish bloggers.

Girl talk, pearls of wisdom

“The CEO of what?” asked my friend Stewart, when I told him I was looking forward to an event in Washington honoring, among others, Laurie Ann Goldman, the chief executive officer of Spanx, Inc.

He didn’t get my enthusiasm.

Goldman’s innovative hosiery and undergarment company needed little introduction at the Jewish Women International's 12th annual Women to Watch gala Monday afternoon at the Hilton Washington.