Jewish Student Weekly

Shabbat is one of the most important days of the Jewish calendar and there is a special Shabbat feast for that day. The food is elaborate and the whole meal takes a great deal of time to put together. There is challan- a special kind of holy bread made on this occasion, kiddush, a great deal of meat, soups and finally deserts. Jews lay great importance on celebrating their festival days and the meals form an important part of any significant day. Traditionally food is made in huge quantities. Over the years this has stopped, but a Shabbat feast is still a tradition that is followed by all Jewish households. One of the dishes which can be made on Shabbat is:

Balsamic Chicken

This dish is perfect for Shabbat and can be served with a variety of things including Challah, potatoes etc.

For this you need:

½ cup of vegetable oil

½ cup of balsamic vinegar

3 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp dry mustard

1 clove of garlic

5 pounds of chicken
Preparation:

First mix all the ingredients together. Then spread the paste on the chicken.  Let the chicken marinate for a few hours so that it is nice and soft and absorbs the flavor of the marinade well. Then cover the dish and bake in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about a quarter of an hour.

This dish is very easy to make and takes absolutely no time. So during the festival time when you are in a bit of hurry and struggling between all the dishes this is the perfect one to make so that it will lighten your load a little. It is also very tasty and is very appropriate for the Shabbat.

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The issue of abortion is another much debated and controversial issue among communities today. Even among the same community, views are divided on the topic. The Roman Catholic Church has taken the view that abortion is a sin and has condemned it strongly.

Many people however have different views on the topic. Most people do not take a stand and maintain that the circumstances have to be looked into and understood before a opinion can be formed, because the various circumstances in which abortion is resorted to can be very different. In some cases it is a necessity while in others a way to escape responsibility. 

In my opinion, whether abortion is ethical or not depends on the situation. There can never be a straitjacket answer to social issues such as this. Now take the example of a young girl who has been raped and finds that she has conceived. Take another situation where there is a girl who is less choosy about whom she is seen with and thinks nothing of having different sexual partners. She also finds that she is pregnant by one of them. Are these two situations the same? There is not even a slight similarity between the two where one is a victim of rape and finds that she pregnant out of no fault of hers and another where a girl is careless and gets pregnant. There cannot be a uniform answer to both the situations and the many hundreds of such situations.

The rape victim must be allowed to abort the fetus as it could put an end to her future when she had not done anything to warrant such a thing. But as far as the second girl is concerned, to let her abort the fetus would be to let her get away with her carelessness and instead make an innocent life pay for it. You probably have a different view of the second situation. Thus there can be no one answer to such social issues. They have to be examined with an unbiased view and some compassion.

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