Shabbat Surfing: Summer Begins

Wednesday brought us not only a heat wave but also the official start of summer. Our summer camp, also known as “Hot Times in the City,”  started this week as temperatures in DC broke a record high.

Dupont Circle Fountain by Glyn Lowe Photoworks, on Flickr

Summer also brings cookout season and, this year, a lawsuit that alleges that Hebrew National products are not living up to their 100% kosher promise. Triangle-K, the agency that certifies Hebrew National products, does not claim to be glatt kosher and the nuances and personal nature of kosher observance will be interesting as this case plays out in a secular setting. To circumvent all of this and still enjoy your cookouts, there are always delicious salads.

Photographer Marisa Scheinfeld takes us back to summers of yore in the Borscht Belt in her haunting photos. These former summer resort colonies in the Catskill Mountains just north of New York Citywere tremendously popular with Jewish-American families and are now in ruins; many have been vacant since the 1960s and 1970s.

Have a fabulous weekend. Shabbat Shalom!