Elizabeth Zakaim

Is Giving Presents a Jewish Tradition?

By Elizabeth Zakaim | December 30, 2016

Gift-giving on Chanukah is so popular a custom that we rarely stop to think about it. Why do we do it? Are we just copying Christmas, or is there some Jewish tradition present in the act of gift-giving? (No pun intended.) To find out how gift-giving became such a prominent aspect of Chanukah, we have…

The Western Wall Taught Me a Lesson – And It Wasn’t What You’d Expect

By Elizabeth Zakaim | October 14, 2016

There it was – the Western Wall, hakotel hama’aravi. The sun was hanging over the top of the wall, reflecting off the stones at my feet. As I stood in front of the holiest sight in Israel, I realized I was waiting for something, some reaction to the realization that I was finally at the…