In front of me were booths laden with fine wines and gourmet food which for a foodie like myself is akin to achieving nirvana. Systematically I went from booth to booth sampling their showcase dishes. At Le' Marais I had a fantastic lamb chili with an avocado relish. Colbeh a Persian restaurant in Manhattan was featuring grilled skewers of chicken and beef called Koobideh served with a lentil stew and rice. It was superb. Other booths like Dougie's Bar-B-Q served more simple dishes like sliders and popcorn chicken. Pomegranate Supermarket in Brooklyn had three tables set up with carving stations. At the back of the room Nesher Caterers had set up a smörgåsbord of various foods that they specialized in making. Nesher's food ran the gamut ranging from simple fruit platters to much more complex dishes like chicken marsala. Their fried cauliflower was a particular favorite of mine.

Amongst all these well known restaurants serving the very peak of their culinary abilities it would have been easy for smaller, newer restaurants to simply fade into the background but for Basil, a soon to open dairy restaurant in Crown Heights, it was their opportunity to shine. Basil served a tuna tartare with smoked paprika oil and green olive reduction as well as a chocolate truffle with coco nibs and sweet cream sauce that was meant to be squeezed as you ate it from the stem the desert was served on.

"We took the idea from a French style meat ball. We call it the star burst experiance" Said Restaurant Manager Ouri Ivry. Ouri went on to say that they had told the chefs preparing dishes for the event that "we want to go high end and quality. We don't want to cut any corners with what we are presenting". What was all the more impressive is the fact that these foods were made parve by a restaurant specializing in dairy. Overall the experience of the Kosher Restaurant and Wine Experience was amazing. When all was said and done I had been there for five hours. I was overly full but none the worse for wear. Needless to say I am looking forward to next years event.

In the time since Part I of this series appeared, I have been through yet another round of finals, proctoring, lesson planning, and report cards. Enduring the struggle to construct meaningful and relevant lessons for the coming semester while teaching English Literature and Writing in a right-wing yeshiva high school is never simple, and this round was particularly difficult. To understand why, I will need to take you on a short trip through the world of middle and high school literature, its perils and promise, its pitfalls and possibilities.

There are four essential types of literature that are dealt with at this stage: short stories, novels, plays, and poems. Western literature, in particular, seems to be obsessed with two themes above all others, making their presence felt in the pages of the types of works listed here: sex and death. Religion is a common theme as well, but it is often discussed in terms of these two most prominent of topics. The problem with this is that it often makes students and teachers uncomfortable. Shakespeare is a good example: comedies tend to be filled with sex (or at least lewd jokes), and tragedies are filled with death (and often some sex as well). I tend to find the histories kind of boring, but they also tend to be filled with both.

Consequently, the more religious the school, the less willing they are to shove these themes into their students’ faces on a regular basis. Therefore, teachers must consider works that are either mild enough to avoid harming the sensibilities of the students and parents, or are straddling that middle ground of themes that are neither romantic nor depressing. Personally, I would rather be more careful in my selection of literature, making sure the works I chose did not need any editing, than present expurgated literature to my students. The term I have heard since my entry into the world of right-wing secular education is tzniyat einayim, literally “hiding the eyes.” Metaphorically, it implies that just as one should be careful in dressing and behavior to show modesty, one should be careful that the eyes are not exposed to immodest material.

This is a struggle for me every year. In my drive to ensure that non-objectionable material is presented, I often have to endure literature I would prefer to leave aside because it is less problematic than my preferred text. I have come to understand that the trade-off is not the same as intellectual dishonesty, nor is it an unacceptable form of censorship; rather, it is a professional challenge that requires my attention. The challenge is to find literature that does the job I need it to do while meeting levels of moral rigor that are simply beyond most authors. While some consider this inherently dishonest, I see it as an admission that not every student needs to have the most explicit ideas shoved in their faces to make them understand the point. Sometimes, more subtle presentations will be more effective in communicating the relevant ideas, and baseness for shock’s sake (as many films and literature today seem to glory in) is not a literary or intellectual value. In other words, not every movie needs a nude scene to be considered “art.”

But there is another opportunity that is being missed. When considering literature in general, I always ponder the fact that we are called “the people of the Book.” The book of our title is of course the Bible, the book of books, the greatest story ever told. Milton may have thought he was writing the most epic of epics in his Paradise Lost, but let’s be honest, it was mostly derivative. The Bible is where it’s at. And shockingly, the more religious the school, the less likely the students are to be familiar with it.

There is a tendency to believe that when it comes to the literature of our faith, the legal intricacies of the Talmud deserve all the attention. Certainly, Talmud study is viewed as the ultimate intellectual exercise, requiring a degree of analysis and sophistication that is pursued mightily by men of great learning and tremendous intelligence. But it seems that, once students discover the Talmud, they are driven and pushed to pursue only the Talmud – all the other forms of learning that formerly occupied their time are given shorter and shorter shrift. Consequently, forms of learning like Chumash (Pentateuch), Navi (Prophets), Mishna, and Hashkafa (Jewish Philosophy) are viewed as something for kids, without the intellectual rigor the Talmud provides. My own studies have shown me that these other forms are no less fascinating, no less sophisticated, no less meaningful, and no less important than Talmud study; in fact, they are often more essential and basic to the bedrocks and foundations of our faith. But their abandonment so early in the education of our youth means they are viewed as kids’ topics, unworthy of study by the mature mind which, finally developed in adulthood, could gain so much more now that it has the tools with which to truly analyze and plumb the more ancient texts. Surely, the answers to so many of the essential “life questions” that so torture the developing minds of adolescents are to be found there; it was through my study of Jonah when I was in high school, and not the Talmud, that I began to truly understand the meaning behind my own faith.

It is telling that all of our most important touchstones of faith are texts; that is, even our Oral Torah did not stay oral for very long. The story of our people is bound up in every word, no matter how technical and legal it may seem; even the Talmud is replete with tales and legends, from medical advice and battle statistics to crop-raising techniques and demonology. But it seems like the texts that are more explicitly stories – the books of the Bible, later works of philosophy and thought – are often viewed only from afar. Might these make better fodder for the literature teachers? If the rabbis aren’t teaching Jeremiah’s tales, why can’t I?

The answer is that there is a powerful fear of reductionism when it comes to these works. Essentially, the leaders of the faith are nervous that if we start talking about the Bible the way we talk about Shakespeare or Byron or Twain, the book itself will become no more than another piece of literature. Perhaps that is at the root of the abandonment of these texts once Talmud is introduced: if the students continue to study them, they will just become books, with none of the awe and mystery and reverence they deserve.

While I would never advocate studying the Bible as just another book, one way to read it is clearly as a book. There is much to be learned from God’s writing style, from His techniques and twists. There are moments, especially in the early parts of Exodus, that give me chills when read, especially in the original Hebrew. The drama and awesomeness of God’s writing puts any of today’s action movie director’s to shame; I challenge any reader to go through the story of the Splitting of the Sea unaffected. While there are obviously multiple levels of meaning and significance, perhaps we could benefit from reflecting on the literary meaning of such a book; at the least, our students would gain new appreciation for the words themselves, and perhaps pay more attention to the moral and ethical messages. How can The Brothers Karamazov compare to the tales of Jacob’s sons? How can Candide hold a candle to Job? By ignoring these magnificent works, we do our students a disservice.

Because I mean this series to express not only my own conflicts and frustrations, but my thoughts on solutions and improvements, I leave you with this suggestion: our study of secular literature must become more intertwined with our study of religious literature. This kind of cross-curricular involvement will lead the students to a more sophisticated understanding of both kinds of writing. The secular, because the Bible is the source of more tropes and plotlines than any work in history. The religious, because with the application of tools of real literary analysis, the Bible can become a touchstone and a constant in the everyday thoughts of students. Simply put, the Bible is too good a book not to teach. Perhaps the literature teachers can sit in on religious courses to better understand the impact of the text; perhaps the rabbis can receive training in literary analysis to better present the other side. Whatever direction the education tends, it is critical that we stop avoiding this magnificent resource because we are scared of it.

After all, God gave us the Book. How could He not want us to read it with every tool we have?

I wasn’t really sure what to expect at the Herzliya Conference. I knew a lot of big names (Tzipi Livni, Bibi Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, James Woolsey and more) were going to be speaking but how could I possibly relate to such speeches. I figured they’d be long and probably a bit boring, but most importantly I didn’t think they would speak to me, a twenty-two year old college student who cares a lot more about when the last season of Lost will begin than when Israeli, American and various politicians repeat the same messages on democracy and peace. Then I got to know the new media team that I'm stationed with for the duration of the conference.

If you stroll into the News Room on the second floor of the Sammy Ofer School of Communications at IDC you’ll find rows of high tech computers with dual screens and a group of college students who care about Israel, love playing on the internet and want to show the world that they could capture content from the conference better than anyone else while in short form (Tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube clips). The IDC students are extremely impressive. In addition to producing professional radio segments, editing video content at the speed of light and carefully monitoring and taking notes on each panel for real time posting, they are currently in the middle of final exams. That is unheard of on any other campus in the world. Follow the New Media team here.

The second thing keeping us Millennials on our toes are the amazing interviews taking place right in front of our eyes in the Sammy Ofer School’s professional studios. David Saranga, our Chief Editor has interviewed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, Former CIA Director James Woolsey and Minister of Enviornmental Protection Gilad Erdan, just to name a few, for short and exciting clips that really portray these important figures in a more real and fun way.

Here’s a behind the scenes clip on the New Media Project.

Read Part 1 of  Jewneric's coverage of the Herzliya Conference:

"New Media at the IDC Herzliya Conference"

Natan Edelsburg is an undergrad studying communications at NYU’s Steinhardt School. He blogs for NYULocal.com and Examiner.com. Natan is currently in Israel helping the new media team upload the content from the 10th Annual IDC Herzliya Conference and amplifying the messages via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  Natan is currently stationed in the New Media room of the Herzliya Conference where he is reporting on behalf of Jewneric and officially as part of the IDC NYU New Media Team. The New Media Team, headed by David Saranga and a team of IDC and NYU students is uploading messages from the conference and amplifying them via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to jumpstart conversations via the social web.

As a Jewish student living in New York City and attending NYU I’m influenced by two main sources when it comes to my media consumption. The first being American popular culture whether it be the endless amount of TV shows I religiously watch or the tech blogs I can’t take my eyes away from and more recently my Twitter, Facebook and YouTube feeds, which converge them all into one. The second source comes from news about Israel. Will my friends and family be able to go to the beach safely next week? Will they have to engage in another war, will there be peace? These questions are important but only facilitate one conversation about Israel.

When I think about Israel, I see beautiful beaches, a vibrant nightlife, cafes booming with entrepreneurs looking to invent the next iPad and an economy that has thrived off Israel’s democratic principles and entrepreneurial spirit. I look forward to the times when I can focus on Israel’s most important fight: how to add dimensions to Israel in a way that conveys all the amazing things the small state has to offer.  As a “millennial” living in the fast-past world of constant, real-time information, I want to receive these messages on the digital spaces that I live in: Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. If they’re not there and if they’re not there consistently, my friends and I just won’t have the opportunity to learn about Israel and more importantly we won’t have a medium to pass along to our friends all the amazing things that are happening.

This week the 10^th Annual IDC Herzliya Conference will begin and will host some of the biggest names in politics from around the globe. The prominent figures include Senator John McCain, and diplomats from Hungary, Japan and Germany just to name a few. They will be speaking about topics that range from education and Israel’s elderly population to sustainability and green living in the 21^st century. Israel is leader in green technology. Most recently Israel was commended by Time for plans to lower the tax rate on electric cars while installing more charging stations across the country. It is no surprise that the conference will host multiple panels on different green topics.  I have the chance to assist David Saranga at this conference, the former Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Israeli Consulate in New York.

We met on Twitter and I’ve been lucky enough to have him invite me to collaborate on this groundbreaking project. A few summer’s ago David made the dreams of Zionists around the world come true when he secured a MAXIM shoot for Israeli models in a summer issue. More importantly he showed the entire world that Israel too has beaches, beautiful women and a vibrant city. David, myself and a team of new media specialists plan on bringing each one of our networks of friends and followers and their networks of fans and followers the amazing messages that we know will come out of the conference.

Download the agenda from the conference here (http://bit.ly/conferenceagenda) and stay tuned for more coverage.

Natan Edelsburg is an undergrad studying communications at NYU’s Steinhardt School. He blogs for NYULocal.com and Examiner.com. Natan is currently in Israel helping the new media team upload the content from the 10th Annual IDC Herzliya Conference and amplifying the messages via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  Natan is currently stationed in the New Media room of the Herzliya Conference where he is reporting on behalf of Jewneric and officially as part of the IDC NYU New Media Team. The New Media Team, headed by David Saranga and a team of IDC and NYU students is uploading messages from the conference and amplifying them via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to jumpstart conversations via the social web.

We will be posting the background on this performance in the next few hours.  Stay Tuned!

To all our new readers from @JewishTweets, thanks for visiting!

That is what charity has come to these days. Haiti is an excellent example of how we fail to understand the need for Actual charity. As one of the poorest nations on earth Haiti went about its daily business ignored by other nations. We paid no attention to the fact that 60% of their citizens had no access to health care and that almost half of all the deaths in Haiti prior to the 2010 earthquake were due to HIV and AIDS respiratory infections, meningitis and diarrheal diseases, including cholera and typhoid. But now after an extreme circumstance like the death of 20,000 Haitians and the near total ruin of the entire island, now we are paying attention and we should be but Haiti needed our help long before they suffered from an earthquake

Chase Bank is currently running a program called Chase Community Giving in which they will give five million dollars to local charities. Thousands of charities were permitted to enter but only 100 were selected for further consideration. The Family Circle, a group that pairs developmentally disabled children with non disabled teens as a method of mentoring, was the only Jewish charity to make the cut. Also making the cut was the Stella Adler Studio of Acting whose only real contribution to the world is churning out excellent actors 90% of which will go on to become professional waiters, 9% will be regular extras on shows like Law and Order and if they are very very lucky 1% that go on to be a guy like Sean Penn who gets to give a 30 second speech at the Oscars about social change after hes done riffling through the $10,000 complimentary gift basket he is given.

My point is that the fact that these two organizations can be on the same list baffles me. I think these days we have lost site of what Charity really is. Because of the amount of charitable organizations and their myriad of mission statements coupled with our ability to receive tax deductions for charitable donations we have forgotten the difference between giving charity and "Acts" of charity or to put it more simply "being charitable" and "acting charitable". Should we vote for worthwhile charities like the Friendship Circle and post it to our Facebook? Yes of course we should but doing so doesn't make us charitable it takes much more then the click of a "vote" button to be charitable.

I unfortunately have no solutions only random gonzoish musings about the current state of charity. I do however have a name and that name is Danny Siegel. Danny Siegel is the quiet hero of tzidakah and the man to contact if anyone is interested in truly giving.

This was back before the Web took off, and Usenet was the happening place for bigots, racists and nutjobs of all sort to spread their filth and lies. There were a lot of them, and they were extremely prolific. Some of them were working alone, but many belonged to, and were being supported and assisted by, organized hate groups.

My most potent weapons in the fight were Near East Report, a newsletter still published biweekly by AIPAC, and Myths & Facts, a collection of articles about the Arab-Israeli conflict which AIPAC updated and published annually. Unfortunately, neither NEAR nor M&F was then available in any sort of electronic format, so I spent a great deal of time typing in articles to post as rebuttals to the haters.

Although there were plenty of hate groups actively spreading lies on Usenet, there wasn't a single pro-Jewish or pro-Israel group with any sort of online presence or footprint. AIPAC, the ADL, B'nai B'rith, etc. had all simply completely missed the boat — they were completely conceding the game to the haters on-line. I was completely on my own.

Some time around 1991 or 1992, I finally got enough of a life (i.e., a girlfriend and a full-time job that I had no interest in continuing to spend the many hours per week that I was spending fighting the hate. Given that I had been relying on information published by AIPAC, I decided to try to get in touch with someone at AIPAC who might be able to allocate resources to put their stuff on-line, hire some people to fight hate on Usenet, etc. Somehow, I actually succeeded at reaching the right person, and he and I had a long telephone conversation. I can still remember pacing back and forth with my cell phone in the lounge of the old Boston University Hillel building while trying, unsuccessfully, to convince him that on-line hate was a significant enough problem to warrant AIPAC expending some resources to combat it. AIPAC was completely unaware of the hate being spread on-line.

That has changed, obviously, but it was somewhat disillusioning to me to realize just how clueless AIPAC was about technology and its potential both for spreading hate and opposing it.

Now fast-forward 20 years, to November 2009. Somehow, my wife got her email address into AIPAC's database (she insists that she never subscribed to any of their lists or gave them or anyone else permission to subscribe her), and they started spamming her. She clicked on the unsubscribe link in the first spam message she received from them. A little over a month later, they spammed her again. I sent them and their network service providers a strongly worded complaint, to which I received no response. Two weeks later, they spammed my wife a third time, so I picked up the phone, called their national headquarters (202-639-5198), and asked to speak to whoever was responsible for the fact that AIPAC continued to spam my wife despite repeated requests for them to stop.

The woman who answered the phone, who identified herself as Julia, asked for my wife's name and email address and said that she would ensure that she was properly unsubscribed. I said that while I would appreciate if she did that, I was more concerned with what was going to be done about the larger problem that their unsubscribe link didn't work and my email to them had gone unanswered.

Paraphrasing her response: "Problem? What problem? I don't see a problem."

We went back and forth several times with me trying, unsuccessfully, to get her to acknowledge that (a) when there's an unsubscribe link in your bulk email, it should work; (b) when someone sends you email asking to be unsubscribed, you should unsubscribe them and send them a response; (c) making people call your national headquarters to unsubscribe is not OK; and (c) making the on-line unsubscribe process work properly is more important than unsubscribing one complaining person.

When I expressed my dissatisfaction with her handling of the matter and asked to speak to someone else, Julia insisted that she was solely responsible for AIPAC's bulk e-mail processes and there was no one else with whom I could speak.

Twenty years ago, AIPAC was completely clueless of on-line hate speech, which had been getting worse and worse for years. Now, AIPAC is completely clueless about responsible bulk email practices and not being a source of spam, a problem which has been getting worse and worse for years. Go figure.

I am not unique. But I am in a very select club, one that has been an endangered species for many years. Specifically, I am an American Orthodox Jewish Male Secular Studies Teacher, recognizable by my prominent yarmulke, BA in English Literature, and MS in Education. My natural habitat is the yeshiva day school, a place where students tend to see me only in late afternoons. Though I am not a seasonal bird, I do tend to head elsewhere for the summer.

Jokes aside, my career has actually been vastly eased by my position as a frum man, willing (actually, eager) to teach secular subjects at yeshivot. I have enjoyed the environment tremendously; it provides me with a fair income (despite the rumors to the contrary), a collegial environment, and absolutely no hassle when it comes to conflicts my colleagues in public schools tend to have with Jewish holidays. All in all, I wouldn’t trade my job.

However, there is a predator to my species. While I am not under attack per se, the subjects under my care are affected tremendously by the activities of my students during their Judaic studies classes. In effect, the presence of a dual curriculum in almost all yeshiva day schools, where students study Torah in the mornings and the remainder of their subjects in the afternoons, often results in a kind of duel curriculum as well. How did this happen? While I am not a historian (or even a history teacher), I do have a healthy interest in the subject, which has led me to this conclusion.

It’s all the Netziv’s fault.

Okay, perhaps that’s too harsh. But Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin of the legendary Volozhin yeshiva during its heyday days (from 1854 until its closing), certainly holds a powerful place in the mythos of Jewish education for every principal and menahel. Specifically, I refer to the closing of the yeshiva by its venerable headmaster in 1892, as the government of Russia placed stricter and stricter demands on the establishment and then enlargement of a secular studies program. I recommend Rabbi Jacob Schachter’s article in the Torah U-madda Journal (Winter 1990) on the subject. While there is some debate (morally, not historiographically) whether the Netziv was categorically opposed to secular studies, or whether the Russian demands were designed to eventually prevent any Torah learning (they were) and pervert the nature of the yeshiva (they did). In the former case, scheduling any secular studies at all becomes a concession to the kind of anti-Semitic repression that the Netziv would not tolerate. This can make any rosh yeshiva, faced with the state requirements for schooling, wince at the number of hours dedicated to language arts, math, science, and history. In the latter case, it is not the studies themselves that are the danger, but the government over-interference in our educational system. This allows the studies themselves, within reasonable limits (i.e., keeping a healthy part of the day devoted to the study of Torah).

This example, and the overall cultural impression of the shtetl society being a somehow more “Jewish” way of life that we have sadly lost, seemed to have led many principals and educational leaders into the impression that secular studies are a necessary evil, one that must be prevented at every turn from encroaching upon the values of Torah, which they by definition oppose. (For a number of perspectives on this, see Dr. Haym Soloveitchik’s “Rupture and Reconstruction” in Tradition, vol. 28 no. 4.)

For me, this presents a problem. We are instructed to know the world, to pursue knowledge in all its forms (Genesis 1:28). How can the beauty of Borchi Nafshi’s poetic meditations on nature not call to mind Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII (“Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day”)? Is there really such a conflict?
This topic has many aspects, many implications, and many sides. Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring some of them through my perspective as teacher in a school on the cutting edge of this debate. Hopefully, I can bring a balanced and nuanced view to the questions raised, but I of course welcome the comments of any who feel I am incorrect or ill-informed (as well as those who agree with me).

As you read these articles, I ask only that you remember two things. The first is the rule of “Sometimes.” This means that absolutes never are. “It’s never always” is the best way of expressing this. With the exception of certain biblical commandments, absolutism does not have a place in serious theological, religious, social, or scientific discussion.

The second thing I would like the readers to remain cognizant of is my place within the world that is struggling with these questions. I am in the trenches, I am sitting straddled between these two worlds and watching, on a daily basis, as my students struggle with these conflicts. It may not be pretty, but the hope is that it will produce more thoughtful and more considerate people, something Judaism today sorely needs.

I read this post by Andy Sernovitz who always point out great out-of-the-box giveaways, mementos and gifts that help drive word of mouth.  Andy's company, GasPedal sends out over-sized M&M bags, the kind you can pick up at Costco, to clients as a thank you.

Our favorite thank-you gift is a giant 52 oz. bag of M&M’s. It’s ridiculously huge.

We get a better response to this gift than when we send fancy gift baskets, expensive cheesecakes, or gourmet desserts.

Why? Because it’s surprising.

A silly-sized bag of your favorite candy, even if it only costs $8 at Costco, is worth talking about. It’s totally weird and makes you smile.

A standard corporate gift, no matter how nice, is something anyone can buy and everyone does. Not remarkable. Be interesting or be invisible.

What was the most impressive, memorable or odd gift you ever received or gave?

To say thank you to our readers, new and old, Jewneric will be awarding one of you with a special thank you gift from us.  Respond in the comments below to be eligible to win. Contest ends Sunday, December 20 at 12:01am.

To get an additional entries:

• Follow us on Twitter – and note your username in the comments.
• Become a fan of us on Facebook – and let us know in the comments.
• RT this contest to you friends – and show us the link in your comments.

Happy Channuka and Thank you for a great year.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who entered.  Cheryl Noll is our winner! Congrats!!

Following nearly two months of testimony, in this second trial, the jury agreed with the prosecution that Haq knew full well what he was doing. Haq wounded six women, killing one, at the federation building 2 1/2 years ago.

"We are grateful that justice for this heinous hate crime has finally been served," Richard Fruchter, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation, said in a statement issued after the verdicts were announced. "Our hearts go out to the survivors of this shooting and their families, who bravely endured not only the shooting but two trials."

Haq suffers from a bipolar disorder and his defense claimed he could not understand his actions.