-
2 months ago | 
thejc.com | Deborah Linton |Misha Mansoor |John Nathan
RABBI Amir Ellituv was at his nephew’s bar mitzvah when, as his wife Tova remembers, “a friend of my brother-in-law came over, saw him holding a bottle of whisky and excitedly asked, ‘Are you @whiskyrabbi, from Instagram?’” Indeed, he was for, as well as leading a 450-strong Sephardi community (the one I’ve attended since childhood) in Manchester, our rabbi, 46, and a father of six, has another gig, as a whisky enthusiast. And he is not alone in having a “side hustle”.
-
Nov 7, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Angela Epstein |Misha Mansoor
Misha Mansoorreflects on her first trip to Tel Aviv since October 7 Who brought you to the airport?” our interrogator asks my sister. “My friend Kevin,” Iris replies. The El-Al interlocutor at the pre-check-in at Luton Airport doesn’t react. “Who brought you to the airport?” she fires at me. “My boyfriend Kevin,” I tell her. No flicker. “Who do you know in Tel Aviv?” she asks next. “Our uncle Yossi,” we say. “Your uncle? He lives alone?” She’s almost showing a sign of excitement here.
-
Sep 26, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
“My dad never ever said anything remotely racist in his whole life,” said my boyfriend of his late father. “Never. Except for one thing. There was just one single thing which he used to sometimes say and it would always shock me because it was so strange and out of character for him to say something racist." So what was the shocking thing he said?
-
Aug 14, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
Not for the first time my mother disowned me this week. Well, it was probably the first time this week (that I’m aware of) but over my lifetime I’ve lost count of how many instances she’s pretended I’m no relation of hers. Definitely not her daughter, and absolutely not born from her very own womb. My mother has disowned me more times than I’ve had a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.
-
Jul 23, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
Could there be anything else in this world more quintessentially Jewish than the enigmatic wonder that is the Shabbat Elevator? For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing this invention, or are unfamiliar with this concept, I shall generously explain – despite the fact it will trigger my Shabbat Elevator PTSD.
-
May 15, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
The Eurovision Song Contest, alongside Miss World and the annual repeat of Thoroughly Modern Millie were my childhood television mega-highlights. Miss World got me thoroughly hooked on geography: as I sat there on the floor in front of the telly with the pull-out from The Sun newspaper listing all the girls and their countries, I would marvel at the names of far-flung exotic sounding places, looking those nations up in an atlas.
-
Apr 17, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
“Mum, just so you know, you will lose granddad at the airport. It’s not a matter of if or maybe. You will lose him.” For the first time, I was to be my parents’ carer on their all-inclusive Pesach overseas jaunt, something they’ve been doing for the past few years. You know, the joy of not having to worry about the intensive cleaning, cooking and general bother of it all while enjoying a bit of a sunny holiday at the same time.
-
Apr 12, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
Years ago, when I went to see Jerry Springer: The Opera, which I found hysterical, I thought it would be hilarious if I then bought the show’s official T-shirt. I’d had a few gin and tonics by the end of the show and probably hadn’t really thought it through properly. The T-shirt was skimpy, tight and pink, and emblazoned across the chest it read “Crack Whore”. Once I was back home (and sober) with my new, fun, Crack Whore T-shirt, the obvious question arose: where could I wear it?
-
Jan 18, 2024 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
Anyone alive who’s seen any television commercials, soaps, dramas, magazine adverts or billboards over the past few years could not possibly have failed to notice how enormously the appearance of people of colour has increased and the representation of ethnic diversity has rocketed. Gone are the days when only all-whites danced around with detergents for your small whites. It wasn’t just the Milky Bar Kid who was milky white, everyone in Television Advert Land was.
-
Dec 8, 2023 | 
thejc.com | Misha Mansoor
A few days ago it was my parents’ 64th wedding anniversary. Usually they celebrate the occasion with a meal out in a restaurant and we buy them cards and flowers and make jokes about how genuinely miraculous it is that they haven’t actually murdered one another yet. We’re always surprised our dad hasn’t killed our mum due to his erratic driving. He is fairly ancient now, a bit like an old giant turtle.
