Coachella Shabbat Tent. (photo credit:JTA) As Jewish American Heritage Month comes to a close I find myself reflecting on the many wonderful people I met while filming our first episode of “America Undiscovered” and pondering the question of what is it that defines the Jewish American experience? A recent Pew survey showed in hard numbers that the face of Judaism is changing. Let me share with you a sampling of their findings: Jews make up approximately 2% of America’s popula

May is Jewish American Heritage Month. As children we learned that in “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But did you know that it was a Jew who first spotted land? Rodrigo De Triana was one of seven Jewish men who sailed with the famous explorer. Ever since reaching the New World, Jews worked hard to make this their home. From the humblest beginnings as peddlers, they not only worked their way up but they made America better. From basketball to blue jeans, we have a lot t

Most of us who’ve been lucky enough to travel to Venice usually have a few goals in mind: parking ourselves in St. Mark’s Square with a beverage of choice while soaking in the sights; not getting over-charged by a gondolier while traversing through the city’s labyrinth of canals; doing the two above mentioned activities with some newly purchased Murano glass in possession. But just a short distance away from the city’s main train station is a Venice that most people have neve

Shalom, amigos! It’s Cinco de Mayo and there are plenty of Mexican Jews celebrating the holiday. It’s estimated that Mexico is home to well over 40,000 Jews (some stats suggest the number could be closer to 66,000). So who knows, the most interesting man in the world could very well be Jewish! Many people have come to associate Cinco de Mayo with Mexican resistance to foreign intervention. It was a pivotal time when Mexico was a young nation and rallied to defend itself. A sm