Pesach: Heaven For Dogs, Or ... ?

Is it Cruel to Force Dogs to Keep Passover?:  In the current edition of The Jewish Week, Rabbi Joshua Hammerman tackles The Big Question: Should you force (or allow) your canine companion to go Pesachdik?  Rabbi Hammerman states:

As the proud owner of two adorable standard poodles, one of whom is extremely neurotic, I can sympathize with you.

Let's start by saying that Passover is absolute heaven for dogs ....

Rabbi Hammerman states his belief that, in Dog, Pesach is known as the "Festival of the Crumbs".  He goes on to discuss a ruling of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (The Rav, z"l) regarding toothpaste, and how that ruling applies to eating Pesachdik in general.

It helps, says Rabbi Hammerman, that dogs are automatically considered Sephardim - they are permitted to eat kitniyot (legumes) during Pesach - although he does not provide the source for this statement.

As one who used to ...  enable his pets to observe the laws of Pesach, Abq Jew takes heart that places like Evanger's make the whole enterprise somewhat less of an adventure.

Click here for more of Rabbi Hammerman's Pesach  / dog advice.

Jewish Genealogy in Abq

Genealogy Superstars: The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society (NMJHS) presents Genealogy Greats - Two Important Speakers on Jewish Genealogy.

Albuquerque Jewish Community Center

Sun 03 April 2011 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

• Bennett Greenspan, founder and CEO of FamilyTreeDNA.com, speaking on discovering Jewish History through DNA testing.
  
• Stephen P. Morse, of stevemorse.org, discussing tools for genealogists such as demystifying the Jewish calendar.

Tickets:  NMJHS members: free; non-NMJHS members: $5

A companion program, Blast Into Your Past, will be presented at the

Rio Rancho Library @ Loma Colorado

Sat 02 April 2011 @ 10:30 am - 3:30 pm

This will be a general program aimed at beginners and recent family history researchers, athough the entire genealogical community is invited to attend.

Where does Abq Jew find out about these events? 

• At the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society (NMJHS) web site.  
• At Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Jewish genealogy blog, Tracing the Tribe.

Click here to find out more about the Genealogy Superstars event.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Tracing The Tribe:  Schelly Talalay Dardashti's Tracing The Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog reports that Jewish Records Indexing-Poland played an essential part in research for the new episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" - spotlighting actress Gywneth Paltrow - to be aired Friday night, April 1, on NBC.

Paltrow's family's original name was Paltrowicz, a rabbinical family from northeastern Poland, specifically Suwalki, Lomza and other towns. JRI-Poland offers 90 records for the family.

Click here to read the full blog post.

Abq Jew did see last season's WDYTYA episode on Lisa Kudrow, and found it to be well-researched, entertaining, and incredibly moving:

Lisa Kudrow journeys to the small Jewish town of Ilya where she discovers how her great-grandmother died in the Holocaust. Yet, Lisa finds hope when she uncovers a 60-year old family mystery.

The Soul of Jewish Music

From Beverly Hills to Abq?:  Come hear my friend, cimbalist and klezmer banjo player Pete Rushefsky, with Itzhak Perlman, Cantor Yitzchok Meir Helfgot, and Hankus Netsky (along with a bunch of Klezmer Conservatory Band  friends).  They're at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on March 30 ... it's a new show called "The Soul of Jewish Music!"

Be a part of history!  See SoulofJewishMusic.com! Tour dates to be announced!