I like to carry paperbacks with me on airplanes, so I have something to read while we’re taking off and landing. I was staying at my late father’s house and pulled this little book off the bookshelf. My favorite kind: the more tattered and yellowing, the better. He kept the books that he loved. So I knew it had to be good. I thought it was a curious little thing with its black binding and orange edges. I knew that Tisha B’Av was a holiday of some kind in Judaism, but I really knew nothing about it.

It turns out it is the simple story of what led to the destruction of the Second Temple. Believe it or not, when I started this journey, I barely knew about the first one. I really didn’t even know that there were two. This is how thin my Jewish education was.

When I turned the page, there were so many things that I didn’t know, including the fact that Me-am Lo’ez wasn’t an author but an anthology. I was curious that this was originally published in 1773. So many questions, so little time.

The first thing I learned was that this was no festival but the very saddest day of the year and a national Jewish day of mourning.

The second thing I registered was the specificity of the date and how many things occurred on this dreadful day. For example, I didn’t know that this is the day that Moses descended from Mount Sinai to see the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. I love how simple and pointed the language is. Just the facts, ma’am.

The thing that struck me the most upon reading this tiny book was that the most calamitous day in the Jewish religion, which is the destruction of the second temple, was really about one person humiliating another, which we learn when we read the story. It makes you think about lashon hara (evil tongue) and the million side effects and dangers of speaking ill of others.

But what I learned the most, more than the story of Tish B’av, was that there is a body of knowledge, greater than the seven seas and I’m building a little boat to sail on it. Come with me.

First thing into a mixing bowl
2 Packages of Yeast (I know unconventional, just to be safe)
1/3 cup Sugar
3 1/2 cups Kings Flour
Dry mix with a fork then add
1 cup steaming hot water

>Let Mixer turn into a dough for 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl (not mixer)

1 Room Temp Egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 dissolve 1 tsp of fine salt into hot water

Emulsify (stir) with a fork or whisk in bowl, THEN add to the mixer with the dough, mix again for 7 minutes
Add water or flour to dough to make it the right consistency, no big deal. Make into a ball and add to oiled bowl and cover with saran wrap and warm damp towl for remainder of the day

PM

Preheat oven 350
Turn bowl over on floured surface
Divide into three elongated ropes and braid. Place on top of flattened parchment paper on cookie sheet. 30 minutes rise

Mix one room temp egg and paint over newly raised braided loaf. Sprinkle with Everything Bagel Seasoning. 25 minutes in the oven. Take out and serve!

Shabbat Shalom!

PS A special thank you to my sister Tiffany Shlain for encouraging me to start this during the pandemic! xox

Subscribe to Join

Read more

Read more

Yaakov Culi says one must always remember four things described in the video. So curious.

Here are the 7 things he covers (it went by a little fast)

This is a secret Substack. I received so much hate on Instagram after October 7th, I’m a little nervous about opening this up to the public, but my thinking is that a subscription fee might block some of it.

I haven’t told a soul about it. It’s obviously related but different than the one I have about my art practice. I have pages of writings about Torah as it relates to Art. I study a lot of ancient books. I am learning more and more about my own religion. I also love churches and Christian Art.

I’ll be choosing a monthly day, (probably the first Monday of the month) but trying to find the best time of day. I’ll start in the New Year 2026.

Thanks for opening your heart and mind to this idea.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Warmest,

Kimberly

Join book club

Welcome to My Torah Obsession

Recording my initial reactions to discovering Me’ea Lo’ez by Yaakov Culi. This is the story of how I discovered the book and how Yaakov Culi revolutionized Sephardic Jewry when it was dying.

This book was only recently translated from Ladino to English.

It contains a treasure trove of foklore and knowledge unknown to Ashkenazi Jewry til now. I will be making short vidoes as I read them. I thought we could read and discuss it together live monthly so subscribers will get an invitation to the zoom.

To Begin: get this book.