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STAMFORD — Long after leaving public office, Senator Joseph Lieberman, will be remembered for his many accomplishments.  Now, thanks to It’s Kosh, a new kosher American bistro at 108 Prospect Street in Stamford, Connecticut’s senior senator can add to the list the “Smokin’ Joe Lieberman Sandwich” —  a creation, according to the It’s Kosh menu, that includes “Montréal-style smoked meat, Romanian pastrami, New York-style corned beef, Russian dressing, American coleslaw, served with French fries and no bologna.”   A wall photo on the It’s Kosh fan page features the smiling Senator holding a tray with his favorite new sandwich.

Owned and operated by Stamford resident Glenn Karow, whose children attend Carmel Academy in Greenwich, Kosh opened for business just after New Years Day.

Karow, whose many years in the food service industry include management positions at Cracker Barrel, TGI Fridays and Hale and Hearty, is delighted with the warm response to Kosh from people throughout the region – from Manhattan, Westchester, Waterbury, Fairfield, New Haven and beyond.
Of his OU-supervised restaurant he says proudly, “We have a smoker and can smoke 120 pounds of meat at a time.  We will have three 55 inch screen TVs and two 46 inch TVs, a fireplace, and seating outside with umbrellas and heaters. “Where else can you get burgers and wings and watch a game?”

And if you’re watching the game at It’s Kosh this Sunday, the restaurant invites you to take the Super Bowl Wing Challenge:  Guess how many wings are sold by the end of the day on Feb. 5, and if your guess is closest without going over, you win $100.00 in free food and drink.

“It’s great having a kosher restaurant in town, to be able to go out and have a bite and enjoy good food and a great atmosphere,” says Stamford resident Howard Wolffe, who has a tough time picking his favorite Kosh dish – “It’s between the hangar steak and the rib steak—and the wings aren’t to be missed either.”

It’s Kosh is open Sundays through Thurdays, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fridays 11 a.m. until two hours before sundown, and after Shabbat.
For information call (203) 614-8777.

(Source: http://www.jewishledger.com)

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SECAUCUS, N.J. – Warren Webber has enjoyed his long career in the electronics business. But nine years ago, he decided to venture into the relish business.

“It started as a joke,” the gregarious West Hartford resident told the Ledger from his Warren’s Foods booth at Kosherfest 2011 in the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, New Jersey in October. The two-day kosher food trade show featuring kosher food, foodservice, drink, wine and Jewish gifts from around the world is the largest of its kind.

“It was a 60 year old recipe,” says Warren.”
“He tweaked it and tweaked it!” adds wife, Carol, as the couple scooped samples of “Webber’s Original Relish—Olde Tyme Pepper Recipe” and “Louie’s Original Salsa” onto scooping chips for curious visitors to sample.
TheWarren’s Food websitedescribes the relish, which comes in mild, medium and hot, as “an all natural kosher product created with no preservatives and produced in Connecticut.”  Both products are bottled in New Haven and are available in 177 stores from Connecticut to New Jersey.

While the Webbers were the only Connecticut company with a booth at the 23rd annual Kosherfest, they were not the only “mom and pop” company on hand.   Viktoria Sater, a Long Island mother of three, recently started Viktoria’s Gourmet Foods.  She and her husband offered samples of Viki’s Granola to visitors.  Dawn Wolstein-Petrini and her  husband, Mauro, owners of the Gelato Shoppe Petrini, were also busy dishing out a dozen flavors of dairy and pareve gelato from their cart.  Rabbi Adam Mintz, spiritual leader of the Congregation Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, a Modern Orthodox shul on New York’s Upper West Side, along with his wife and several friends who were decked out in royal blue “The Chosen Mint” t-shirts, were giving out samples of “Rabbi Mintz’ Classic Kosher Mints.”

Of course, more established companies like Manischewitz and Osem had large display booths.  Well-known companies like Dr. Prager’s, Gold’s Horseradish and Guss’ Pickles were also on hand, giving out samples of products, old and new. Countries displaying kosher products included Israel, Argentina, the Philippines, Finland, Canada, England, Australia, France, Scotland, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, and the Former Soviet Union.
Israeli companies received several new product awards: for best new frozen entrée (Ta’amati Meat Flavor Meatless bourekas); best new jam or preserve (Tishbi Passion Fruit Champagne Preserve); best new dips, spreads, salsas (Sabra Guacamole); and best new savory and salty snack food (Bamba Halva).

An Argentinean company, Marumatok SA, won an award for best new wine, beer or spirit (Fincas Marumatok Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec).

All visitors to Kosherfest were made aware of a few very important facts about today’s kosher food market:  there are an estimated 12,250,000 kosher consumers in the U.S. who help support a $12,500,000,000 market in kosher food. Given that only 1.3 million of these people are Jewish year-round kosher consumers, it stands to reason that many of the consumer who buy kosher include others, including Muslim halal consumers, and those looking for vegetarian and non-dairy products.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, founder and co-producer of Kosherfest, “Natural, healthy and gluten-free products continue to grow among new kosher product categories, as an estimated 18 million people in the U.S. are sensitive to gluten.”

Examples of products that appeal to these demographics that were on display at this year’s Kosherfest include Mon Cuisine Vegetarian Entrees, Sage V Foods’ IQF Rice (individually quick frozen) and various meat-free, vegetable protein entrees from Wholesome Cuisine.

Companies like Manischewitz continue to innovate and diversify. “We strive to be a 52 week a year company—not just for Passover,” reports Alain Bankier, co-president and CEO of the Manischewitz Company.  His company introduced more than forty new products in such categories as Mediterranean food, comfort food and health and wellness food.  They will also be introducing vending machines in such locations as airports that carry frozen blintzes, egg rolls and knishes which can be heated to the proper temperature and level of crispness.  And Gold’s Horseradish company now manufacturers such  “modern” products as duck sauce, salsa and wasabi that sit on grocery store shelves next to oldies-but-goodies like borscht and schav.

(Source: http://www.jewishledger.com)

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When I started teaching Max, it was unclear if he’d even set foot in the synagogue on his bar mitzvah day. As his parents explain in this beautiful, moving video, Max loves “Blues Clues” and is motivated by French fries. Aliyah l’torah and d’var torah were not likely to be part of Max’s bar mitzvah–we did not know at first what a Max bar mitzvah might look like. Max is a young man with autism and limited expressive language.

After several sessions working with Max in his home—singing songs, clapping, reading stories and putting “Blues Clues” on such objects as challah, candle sticks and a kipah, we began taking Max to his synagogue, Town and Village Synagogue in Manhattan, to meet with Cantor Shayna Postman. The synagogue had never celebrated the bar mitzvah of a boy with autism, but they were open to working with Max and his family.

Shayna knew of Max’s love of music and began playing guitar for and with Max. Max enjoyed looking at Shayna’s mouth as she sang—and he had a special pick for strumming on her guitar. Together, they sang the Shema. And played drums for Halelu. Little by little, it seemed Max just might celebrate his bar mitzvah in the shul.

On the Sunday of Chol Ha Moed Sukkot, Max entered the synagogue—with his IPad and headphone. He didn’t agree to wear a tie or jacket, but he did wear nice khaki pants, a white shirt and a kipah. The cantor welcomed the guests, and his parents told Max it was time to put away the Ipad. His family presented Max with a tallis, which he wore proudly. He carried a small torah, shook a lulav and etrog (for his Sunday of Sukkot bar mitzvah), and stood at the torah offering one word answers to the cantor’s question about things he loved (“mommy, daddy, music, French fries, baby sitter Stacy…”). 

While Max did not say the Torah blessings, read from the Torah or deliver a d’var torah, Max truly became bar mitzvah that day. The cantor’s love for Max was obvious to the fifty guests in attendance. She bothered to get to know Max and appreciated Max’s abilities while also understanding his limitations. 

Cantor Postman delivered a beautiful mi sheberach prayer for Max. My hope and prayer is that more rabbis and cantors will continue to create caring communities where the Max’s of this world will have a Jewish home.

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Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post

Checking out great new digital talent in Jerusalem

The new animated film Rango stars the voice of Johnny Depp and follows the life, adventures and struggles of an aspiring hero in the form of a pet chameleon (Rango) as he becomes local sheriff in the Old West town of Dirt. When the movie is over, viewers can go home and continue to enjoy the great chase scenes, think about the chameleon in a Hawaiian shirt and have an Israel experience. In which case, you might now be wondering what Israel possibly has to do with a film about an animated chameleon?

Well, thanks to Israeli company, Funtactix, fans of Rango can go home and play Rango: The World, an online game based on the movie. Funtactix, the browser-based game developer, is releasing a game where players can meet characters from Rango, create an avatar, explore film environments and take on quests – all with their online friends. Imagine entering the world of your favorite film!

Funtactix is one of several hot, innovative Israeli companies making a difference in animation, gaming, social networking and more! Working out of the recently renovated national Mint of the British Empire and the Ottoman warehouses next door to the area surrounding Jerusalem’s old train station, over 300 artists, animators, programmers, engineers, storytellers and others huddle together in the Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Media Quarter in Jerusalem, where they work enthusiastically on animated films, websites and video games. All of this exciting, high quality innovation is taking place a short fifteen minute walk from the Western Wall, the City of David and archaeological excavations which are over 3,000 years old. Welcome to Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Media Quarter-home to Funtactix, Animation Lab, AnyClips, Qlipso, and more!

The JVP Media Quarter, started in 2002, is the brainchild of Erel Margalit, the founder and managing partner of JVP, a leading Israeli venture capital firm with over $820 million under management. The JVP Media Labs house a dozen companies, as well as a performing arts incubator and theater, The Lab (Hama’abada), and a social profit organization JVP Community (Bakehila).

Margalit playfully noted that, Unlike most labs, our focus is not on molecules and atoms, but rather, colorful, exciting stories and characters. Our employees are hard at work creating games, movies, virtual environments, web applications and mobile/iPod content for both children and adults. The Animation Lab team is currently hard at work on its animated feature film about a group of wild flowers that must contend with an evil gang of genetically-engineered plants. It follows a teenaged daisy (named Daisy) who was raised in the Sacred Meadow. According to the Animation Lab website, Daisy “now has to brave the great, dangerous world outside the Meadow’s walls and team up with a secret society of plant spies who have worked covertly to protect the planet from human activity since the beginning of time. Daisy discovers that she alone can save her Meadow, and the world at large, against an attack by an army of genetically modified corn stalks.

The film is currently in production in the Jerusalem animation studio. It was originally called The Wild Bunch when the filming first began, but the title is sure to change before its release in late 2011 or early 2012. It combines action, comedy, adventure and romance and features the voices of famous actors including Abigail Breslin, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein, and Elizabeth Hurley.

Ayelet Weinerman, CEO of Animation Lab proudly said that, “Most of the work will be done in the studio in Israel. Some of the animators will come from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, as part of the planned future cooperation between the design academy and Animation Lab.

Weinterman added, “We plan to compete with the world’s big studios. The films are being designed for international distribution, at movie theaters worldwide. The budget for the film is about $20 million.

On a recent visit to the Media Lab, I began to get curious when I saw the phrase I’ll have what she’s having stickered on every light switch. I smiled, remembering that is a line from the movie When Harry Met Sally. Little did I know, this was also PR for a new company! Thanks to AnyClip , another Israeli company housed in the Media Lab, finding any clip is easy. Anyclip.com is basically a search engine to find any moment from any film ever made.

Did you ever love a movie scene so much that you wished you could just watch it over and over again? Is there line from a movie or funny scene that pops into your head and you suddenly wish you could share it with a friend? Your dream just came true! AnyClip maps, indexes, and tags entire films for you!

Another cool project of the media center is Qlipso. When we find a funny video on YouTube or someplace else, we often send the link to a friend or tell them on Facebook. Now, with Qlipso, there is a way to view or listen to content online with our friends. Qlipso calls itself a multi- user content-sharing platform.

With Qlipso’s Multiuser Content- Sharing Platform, we can now bridge those experiences we share in real-life with our online social network. They let us share the things we love with our social networks. In March 2010, Qlipso purchased Veoh has a library of more than one million videos, TV shows, online games and other interactive content. Qlipso allows you and your friends to interact with this amazing content photos, music, video and games!

These are only a few of the many amazing innovations coming out of a small old warehouse in Jerusalem. Next time you watch an impressive animated movie, or connect with a friend online, think of Israel – the technology may easily have been developed in the land of milk, honey and computers!

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