Sixth Sense

A trip to Manhattan usually meant a stop at Mendy’s on 34^th Street. It wasn’t just because the restaurant became an iconic kosher destination thanks to Seinfeld. No, it was an opportunity to enjoy their real “heimish” matzoh ball soup or great chicken or liver salad sandwiches. Imagine my surprise the other day

For the second year in a row, Adelle is planning a Seder with only her husband Izzie. It is unlikely that her children in Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Bet Shemesh will be able to travel. The 25+ Seder attendance of 2019 will not happen, Adelle said sadly. “We will be sitting at home and talking about our children who will

Imagine a life where your food is delivered automatically, your weekly preferences already stored on your computer. Even the kosher pizza store already knows your preference of toppings. The takeout store delivers your spaghetti and meatballs on Tuesday evenings. A number of younger couples told me recently that they are

A miracle, say the rabbis, is an event that happens out of the ordinary. Not in the “normal” realm of things. The Chanukah miracle of a small jug of oil that defied its norm of burning for only one day and instead burned for 8 days, was the perfect example of such a miracle. As Jews celebrate Chanukah this year, things

And so, it happened: For the first time in 32 years, I was not at Kosherfest a few weeks ago. It was quite flattering to hear from so many people what they missed at Kosherfest. Most fell into the category of missing tasting the good food and the new products. Others spoke of the incredible buzz at the show that they

Manhattan is a shadow of its former self and quite easy to understand why the robust kosher dining scene in Manhattan is still a distant memory compared to what it was prior to the pandemic. It is hard to believe but only 10% of Manhattan office workers are back. One large business that formerly employed 230 people is

New York…As you might imagine my friends in the kosher restaurant business are not happy campers these days, particularly those that are in the Red Zone in places like Boro Park and Flatbush in Brooklyn or in Rockland County. They already were takeout, deliver, outdoor dining, almost indoor dining and now back to takeout

The breaking news in this edition is the official announcement of the cancellation of Kosherfest 2020 and the planned new date for 2021. Of course, this is all contingent on how rapidly the Covid-19 crisis ends. Just this week, one long-time exhibitor lamented how he used to be so busy at this time of the year preparing

Anyone that has camped out at JFK Airport in the past few years right before Succos (eve of October 2nd this year) got a sense of just how mobile the entire kosher community seemed to be. Entire families were travelling to spend the holiday with parents and grandparents. Thousands were headed to vacation destinations like

There is no question that advertising was slashed by as much as half by kosher purveyors during the long months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most kosher food advertising nowadays is in the form of colorful glossy ads in Jewish periodicals. There was one bright spot, however, in the form of social media. With people