Latkes and loot: Is Chanukah for grown-ups?

My catalogue-stuffed mailbox was the first reminder that Chanukah, or rather the season of shopping, was fast approaching.

Years of Hebrew school had taught me, despite its proximity to Christmas, that Jews were not supposed to commemorate the miracle of a small jar of oil by collecting lots of loot.

Yet I wondered, without the anticipation of gifts, would the festival of lights still be as festive for grown-ups? Does the atmosphere of play still surround the chanukiyah of those over the age of consent?

Couscous and truffles

Top Israeli chef Mika Sharon, her face flushed and her hair swept up in a clip, last week shared with her D.C. dinner guests the Mediterranean-inspired menu that she had prepared for them.

"And please let me know if you don't like it," instructed Sharon, who trained at the French Culinary Institute, hosts cooking shows on Israeli television and operates several popular restaurants in Tel Aviv.

These dinner guests, however, weren't typical: They were homeless.

A curtain call for Terezin

With a touch of irony and a nod of his head, Edgar Krasa, 90, acknowledged his dramatic "role" as a survivor from Terezin.

"Otherwise, I couldn't be here," the real-life Holocaust survivor said.

Krasa and fellow survivors shared their "insiders' perspectives" of their time in the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp in Czechoslovakia in 1941.

But their recollection of the camp's improbable musical chorus -- and its courageous young conductor, Rafael Schaechter -- was the focus of the evening's program

The second day of Rosh Hashanah: To be (in shul) or not to be

With its seemingly red-headed stepchild status outside the more traditional segments of the Jewish community, what is the significance of the second day of Rosh Hashanah, anyway?

When the ancient Israelites started celebrating the “head of the year” 2,000 years ago it was, in fact, a one-day holiday.

For two kinds of ‘survivors,’ filling in the gaps on family medical history

A crucial question that doctors routinely ask patients left Rifky Atkin speechless.

Diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer, Atkin was exploring treatment options when her surgeon asked, “Is there a family history of breast cancer in your family?”

The mother of four from Edison, N.J., stammered, “I don’t know and I’ll never know.”

Her parents survived Auschwitz as teenagers, she explained, but not their parents. Her four grandparents were killed in the death camp, taking with them all knowledge of the family medical history.

Forums attempt to answer questions about Gaza flotilla

Gali Baram, a counselor for public and academic affairs at the Israeli embassy, would have preferred speaking about the new Sabra hummus factory that recently opened in Richmond.

It's the largest in the world, Baram told a packed room of nearly 300 people at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia in Fairfax on Monday evening.

"But, unfortunately, this is not the case," she said about her talk. She was there, instead, to answer questions about the Israeli military seizure last week of a Gaza-bound ship, the Turkish Mavi Marmara, that left nine people dead and brought an onslaught of worldwide condemnation against Israel.

Young Jews urged to become stakeholders in Judaism

As a California college student, Eli Winkelman turned a passion for baking challah into a social action project by selling the breads and donating the funds to Darfur aid organizations.

Since leaving college in 2004, she has overseen the launch of 32 chapters of "Challah for Hunger," as executive director of the organization she started.

Yet learning the nuts and bolts of running a nonprofit has proven to be a learn-as-you-go sort of education for the 25-year-old. For guidance and jack-of-all-trade assistance, she frequently turns to Shawn Landres, the CEO and co-founder of Jumpstart, often described as a "thinkubator for sustainable Jewish innovation."