The New Jewish Table explores the melding of two different cooking cultures, seasonal American and Eastern-European Jewish, sharing the mouth-watering recipes that result from this flavorful union from authors, chef Todd Gray and his wife Ellen Kassoff Gray. More than a love story about what one can do with fresh ingredients, Todd and Ellen talk about the food they grew up with, their life together, and how rewarding the sharing of two people's traditions—and meals—can be. When Chef Todd married his wife, Ellen, who is Jewish, their union brought about his initiation into the world of Jewish cooking. In 1999, Todd combined his love for farm-to-table ingredients with his passion for Jewish cuisine, opening the acclaimed Equinox Restaurant in Washington, D.C. With more than 125 recipes including reinterpretations of traditional Jewish favorites made with fresh, seasonal ingredients, from Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Latkes, Ellen's Falafel with Pickled Vegetables and Minted Lemon Yogurt, and Roasted Heirloom Beets with Capers and Pistachios, to Matzo-Stuffed Cornish Game Hens, Fig and Port Wine Blintzes, and Chocolate Hazelnut Rugelach, there are recipes for every occasion that the entire family will enjoy.

A riveting study of a generational transition with major implications for American Jewish life

In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many Russian-speaking Jews residing outside the former Soviet Union than there are in that region. The New Jewish Diaspora is the first English-language study of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. This migration has made deep marks on the social, cultural, and political terrain of many countries, in particular the United States, Israel, and Germany. The contributors examine the varied ways these immigrants have adapted to new environments, while identifying the common cultural bonds that continue to unite them. Assembling an international array of experts on the Soviet and post-Soviet Jewish diaspora, the book makes room for a wide range of scholarly approaches, allowing readers to appreciate the significance of this migration from many different angles. Some chapters offer data-driven analyses that seek to quantify the impact Russian-speaking Jewish populations are making in their adoptive countries and their adaptations there. Others take a more ethnographic approach, using interviews and observations to determine how these immigrants integrate their old traditions and affiliations into their new identities. Further chapters examine how, despite the oceans separating them, members of this diaspora form imagined communities within cyberspace and through literature, enabling them to keep their shared culture alive. Above all, the scholars in The New Jewish Diaspora place the migration of Russian-speaking Jews in its historical and social contexts, showing where it fits within the larger historic saga of the Jewish diaspora, exploring its dynamic engagement with the contemporary world, and pointing to future paths these immigrants and their descendants might follow.

A unique collection of essays that deal with the intriguing and complex problems connected to the question of Jewish identity in the contemporary world. Based on a conference held in Budapest, Hungary in July 2001, it analyzes and compares how Jews conceive of their Jewishness. Do they see it in mostly religious, cultural or ethnic terms? What are the policy implications of these views and how have they been evolving? What do they portend for the future of world Jewry? The authors present new data from west European and post-Communist countries (Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Ukraine) and re-interpret data from other European countries as well as from Israel and the United States, making this a truly comprehensive, comparative and contemporary work.