Four readers — Martin Flax, Gerald Weiss, Steve Oren and Gil Kulick — have written to scold me for mistakenly equating the biblical name Barak, meaning “lightning,” with the presidential name Barack ...

Sakkin refers to a type of old cutlery, used mostly for killing animals and butchering the meat before roasting or cooking it. In most cultures, people just cut meat and ate with their hands (hence ...