The Shiksa: It’s Cool, She’s Kosher

When my fiancee and I met with our rabbi months before the wedding, he explained why the ceremony to sign the engagement contract (bedeking) and the actual marriage take place so close together. See, once they were separated by a year, but if something happened to the man during that year, the woman would never be able to marry. He could be drafted into the Tzar’s army, murdered by anti-Semites, or, in the words of the rabbi, “run off with a Polish milk maid”.

Basically, it’s been made Shiksa proof.

Yes, Shiksas, those tempting and beautiful women of the non-Jewish faith and lineage. Though other ethnic women (black, Asian, Latin American) technically count as Shiksas, what we’re really talking about here is white chicks. Think Betty Draper, or at least Annie Hall. Jewish men fall for Shiksas for many reasons, and often, these lovely women throw themselves into Jewish life with aplomb.

Such is the case with Tori, who blogs by the name The Shiksa in the Kitchen. Her husband is Israeli, keeps kosher, and so Tori has committed herself to delving into the world of Jewish food and cooking as completely as possible. There’s a cookbook on its way, and her blog is filled with photos, recipes, videos, and adventures in Jewish eating around the world.

Here she is at Katz’s…so her deli cred is bona fide:

Now, if we could only find her male equivalent. The Shaygets Garmento?