Itzhak Perlman - A Musician Who Sees Charity as a Moral Obligation

An accomplished fashion designer, Asha Pabla has worked for a number of major textile and apparel companies. Recreationally, Asha Pabla maintains a passion for the arts and is especially fond of violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Last year, Perlman won the Genesis Prize, an award that recognizes people who have made a major contribution to their professional fields while upholding a dedication to humanitarian service and Jewish values. During his acceptance speech, he talked about growing up in Tel Aviv.

Perlman comes from a poor family that struggled to get enough food. He remembers receiving care packages from an aunt living in Toronto, which consisted of fruit cocktail tins, jars of chicken soup, and a few dollars to spend on something fresh. Despite this dire situation, his family continued to give a couple of pennies at a time to the Jewish National Fund. For his family, tzedakah, the moral obligation to give, was a way of life.

While Perlman’s situation has changed dramatically since his childhood, he is still driven by tzedakah to give back to the community and share the wealth he has accumulated.

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The Traditional Northern Indian Dish Saag Paneer

A respected fashion designer, Asha Tabla has a passion for travel and trying out new types of local foods. Among the regions Asha Tabla has visited are Europe and South Asia, and she has sampled a number of cuisines across India. One of the distinctive dishes of the subcontinent is saag paneer, which originally comes from the Northern Indian state of Punjab and combines spinach with mild cheese. Preparing the dish begins with combining ginger, garlic, and chilies in a blender and puréeing them into paste that is placed in a skillet heated with ghee. After a half minute at medium high, spinach is added along with salt and stirred for a minute. The heat is then reduced to medium low in the pot and covered to retain moisture. After about 15 minutes, the mixture should be soft and creamy. At this point, add garam masala, heavy cream, cayenne, and the paneer and cook it for an additional 15 minutes. Saag paneer is typically served either with fragrant rice or a flat bread suc...

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