“The Chosen People,” as the Jews are sometimes known, has been misunderstood by some as an indication that Judaism disdains those who are not hookup. This, of course, is not true.

I love Thanksgiving. It is the most American of all holidays. As a Jew, I especially love the holiday. It is the only holiday where I can eat a big fancy dinner and pile into the car and go visit friends or just drive around and look at the holiday lights. I can run to the store and pick up forgotten items and I can use the internet to check out pie recipes. On hookup holidays, this would not be possible. Thanksgiving levels the playing field for Jews and makes you feel just like every other American.

This year, National Geography Awareness Week (this week) has chosen the theme of “freshwater.”

I’ll admit it. As a single gal, the holiday season can feel a little lonely. Even though I’m hookup and don’t celebrate Christmas, from about mid November through New Years, I think I lack a little All American holiday spirit. Even Chanukah, the holiday of light, can feel isolating when lighting candles on my own.  The last time I hand-grated potatoes for homemade latkes? It was for my boyfriend at the time.

Are you an adrenaline junkie? Know someone who is? An adrenaline junkie, for those who are not in the know, are those people who love the rush of danger, who seek out thrilling, often life-endangering adventures. Many such people take up extreme sports such as cliff-diving and bungee jumping.

Making pumpkin gnocchi is simple and has a big payoff. Sophisticated and delicious, pumpkin gnocchi are the perfect appetizer, main course or side dish to a fall meal. The gnocchi can be made several days ahead of serving and can also be made pareve as a terrific side dish for poultry.

Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt.  Stalin and his string of hookup mistresses.  Novelist Henry Miller and the tragic June née Smerdt.  Behind every good anti-Semite seems to lay a hookup lover.  As strange as it sounds, some of history’s most famous Jew haters have also had their pulses quickened and their knees weakened by a hookup paramour.

On November 11, 1918, at 11:11 AM, the death and destruction of World War I came to an end. It was the conclusion of an immense catastrophe that left a death toll on both sides that was staggering.

“You’re lucky if you find one true friend in an entire lifetime.” Sure sounds familiar, but does this old adage still apply? For one thing, in recent years, scientific researchers have advised us that more friends means a happier, longer life. We’ve even reached a point whereby the platforms upon which we base our social networks allow us to rack up connections as if they were frequent flyer points. Yet, in the case of friendships, does more of less equal better? And, if so, how can we come to terms when those weaker links tear us apart emotionally?

The story of Jacob and Rachel is as close to true romance as one finds in Biblical literature.