news roundup

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he is not an anti-Semite.

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US widow deported over Nazi past:

Mrs Rinkel’s husband Fred was a German Jew who arrived in the US after escaping the Holocaust. He died in 2004, never learning of his wife’s secret.

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New Year, New Dumpling:

But Jewish food has become so diverse, how about a taste of another kind of traditionfor Rosh Hashana on Friday night? A new dumpling for the holiday.

I am in a bit of a cooking conundrum this Rosh Hashana. First, my kitchen things have not yet arrived in Estonia. We have two pots here from Ikea (one big soup pot and a smaller sauce pan) and two wooden spoons and my knife set that I brought in my suitcase, but that’s it. Second, I no longer eat chicken or beef, which are common ingredients in Jewish cooking. There are lots of vegetarian recipes out there, but I haven’t figured all that out yet. Third, the ingredients commonly available in the US are not necessarily easy to find here. And since I can’t read Estonian (although I can identify the word for pork), Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian, or Russian, my only hope is when labels have English or Spanish or Italian.

So, this Rosh Hashana will be very untraditional. We have a vegetarian borsht (from a jar; just add water). We have bread. I will probably make an egg-and-tuna salad. We have kidney beans, which I might add to that salad. And we have some cooked rice and pasta, but no sauces for them. Apples and honey for dessert.

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Jewish Cooking Q&A with Joan Nathan.

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Fresh Air recently had a few interviews discussing Christian Zionism: here, here, and here.