An important part of any Jewish holiday prep is either sitting with your kids to watch Jewish episodes about said holiday (if they exist) or putting them in front of the TV to watch holiday-themed programming while you get ready for it. There aren’t a lot of great Passover kids’ episodes out there (though there are a lot of delightful Passover videos online for kids and some really fun Passover episodes for grown-up viewers) but here are six Passover episodes you can show your young ones. 1. “A Rugrats Passover” Sure, some people may have critiques about this Passover special (mostly though ..read more

We already knew that Peacock’s upcoming limited series, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” will have an incredible soundtrack, co-written by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, in collaboration with Emmy-award nominated Kara Talve. But now, another exciting musical name is joining that fold: Barbra Streisand. That’s right, Babs is recording a special song for the TV show, and not just any song, but a new original song, with lyrics by two-time Grammy and Golden Globe nominated Charlie Midnight, who collaborated with Barbra on her excellent duets album “Partners,” and who, like Barbra, grew up Jewish ..read more

I was angry when I got her text. And hurt. One of my close relatives wrote that she would not be coming to our seder this year. She said, “Three of us have other plans as we are not comfortable with the seder texts and intentions.” What? You’re boycotting the “intentions” of a thousand-year-old Jewish tradition? (Two thousand if you count the first seder referenced in the Mishnah, around 90 BCE.) “Don’t expect to be invited again,” I thought to myself. Jews have observed Passover and held seders throughout nearly 100 generations of upheaval and war. We have held seders in concentration camps ..read more

So many delightful Jewish children’s books with LGBTQ+ representation are hitting the shelves this year, including Leslea Newman’s  upcoming “The Naming Song”. One such book, which came out in January, is “Frankenstein’s Matzah,” a book that combines Passover traditions with science experiments and Mary Shelley love, and that is helmed by a curious, nonbinary scientist named Vee. According to its publisher, it’s the first Jewish children’s book to feature a nonbinary protagonist. Vee uses they/them pronouns, but the most important part of their identity in this book is their love for sci ..read more

In a year when we need comfort, Six13 offered us a Passover take on one of the most nostalgic and comforting bands of all times — Abba. The a cappella group’s new Passover parody pays tribute to the classic songs by the Swedish band, along with their memorable music videos. For those who don’t know your Abba history, the four-member pop band rose to fame after winning the Eurovision, Europe’s biggest song contest, in 1974. It was the first time Sweden won the contest (the last time was last year, which means this year, the Eurovision will be taking place in Malmö next month. Israel will be pa ..read more

I love so many of Sarah Jessica Parker‘s roles, but that time she played TV reporter Peggy Pey on “Shalom Sesame,” the Jewish spinoff of the classic PBS kid’s show, is truly one of my favorites. The year is 1991, and the future “Sex and the City” star, known back then for her roles in “Footloose” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” is roving the streets of Sesame to ask folks what makes this night different from all other nights, and specifically, why we eat matzah on Passover. Wearing a suit jacket (because, serious reporter), she even has a microphone with the Pey TV logo — pey as in the Heb ..read more

Before I had kids, I too unwittingly lied to my future self by saying that I’d never cooked anything special for future progeny — they’ll eat what we’re having, I confidently announced. As the popular TikTok sound goes, “What a lie, what a lie, what a lie!” While I don’t only cook plain pasta and butter, I do try to have safe food options for my kids at every meal. And on Passover? No pasta with butter for you! During a holiday when we are asking our kids to wait for the main meal for sometimes hours, and during which we may be taking away their favorite source of carbs, it makes sense to be ..read more

This month, you can watch Moran Rosenblatt in two very different Holocaust-related projects. The first is the delightful and surprisingly timely lesbian rom-com “Kiss Me Kosher,” a movie which is currently out in cinemas in New York and Florida, and on video on demand. Rosenblatt plays the Israeli Shira who is dating a non-Jewish German woman Maria, played by Luise Wolfram. The movie explores how romance intersects with her relationship with Shira’s Holocaust survivor grandmother and Maria’s own family history. The other is Hulu’s Holocaust drama “We Were the Lucky Ones,” in which she plays H ..read more

It might be the cutest matzah ball soup you’ll ever see. This week, Nickelodeon’s “The Tiny Chef Show” premiered an episode in which the show’s tiny stop-motion cast makes an Ashkenazi Jewish staple: matzah ball soup. While Passover is a little over a week away, the episode doesn’t mention the Jewish holiday, nor the word Jewish, for that matter, but it does show plenty of Jewish families eating matzah and the comforting soup, and it has an adorable felt-made miniature saying Yiddish words in the most endearing of voices. For those unfamiliar with “The Tiny Chef Show,” it is a beautifully mad ..read more

“I want to start lighting candles on Shabbat,” I told my husband Aaron. “I think it’d be a nice way to end the week and special for Ori to know we’re done working and it’s going to be family time.” “Let’s do it,” he agreed. “We’ll need supplies.” So we set out to get the requisite supplies, or at least those we could scrounge up. My mother-in-law lent us her bat mitzvah candle holder, but couldn’t find Aaron’s Kiddush cup. Aaron found an old box of candles in our apartment, which once belonged to his bubbe. I made a challah for the first time.  And then, it was here: the night of our fir ..read more