Jewish Festival of Books: The World Needs Beautiful Things

By Avi Dresner / Special to the BJV

Anyone who has ever known a child, who likes to pick up random things of apparently no value or significance - in short, anyone who has ever known or been a child - will recognize Bezalel, the protagonist of Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz’s children’s bo…

Shavuot Teaches Us Not to Waste Opportunities

 By Rabbi Seth Wax

As we move into the end of the spring semester and toward the summer months at the college campus I work at, students have begun to talk excitedly about their plans for after classes end. One of the joys of interacting with them means that I get to hear about the faraway…

Jewish Taste: Ottolenghi Strikes Again, But Makes it a Lot Easier This Time

By Carol Goodman Kaufman

Simple is not just the title of this newest cookbook by Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi. It is the chef's attempt to help readers prepare fabulous recipes at home with a minimum of fuss.

Sounded good to me. As much as I love to cook, I admit that Ottolenghi's Jerusal…

Rabbi Reflection: Truly, the Best Night Ever – Until the Next Night

Rabbi Jodie Gordon of Hevreh of Southern Berkshire reflects on a trip to Israel, and the communal relationship between the Berkshire Jewish community and the Afula-Gilboa region of Israel, cultivated and funded by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshire through the Partnership2gether program.

Modern “Renaissance Man” Rube Goldberg at the Rockwell Museum

Overview of illustrator Rube Goldberg's work, on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.