Hi, my name is Aliza. I’m an Orthodox Jew. Sorry, but that doesn’t mean I’m a crazy religious fanatic. A reader emailed me an article from the Forward, “Invoking Rosa Parks, Haredi Women Move to Back of the Bus” The article details a situation that has Haredi women in Israel showing their modesty by choosing… Continue reading Fun with Labels
Here is an early draft of an essay I’m working on: It is the ten-year anniversary of that day. The day my life ended. The day my life began. Strewn about my dark, mahogany daybed like a broken doll, I lay writhing from the pain. My blackened, dirty feet poked out of my jeans and… Continue reading The Most Important Day of My Life
The New York magazine feature, “Escape from the Holy Shtetel” chronicles the sad story of an American Jewish Family. The would-be heroine of the tale is Gitty. Gitty escaped from her Satmar town only to have her daughter kidnapped and taken back to the town by her ex-husband. The tale paints a picture of two… Continue reading Escape from the Holy Shtetel
Harrison Ford is Jewish. I found this out on Shabbat. This, of course, led to an obsessive search for other Jewish actors on Wikipedia. I wish I could say this was my first search. But, alas, it wasn’t. Back when I found out Sammy Davis, Jr. converted to Judaism, I put in a good amount… Continue reading Driven to Distraction
I made a decision that was tough for me last week. And so, of course, G-d in G-d’s infinite wisdom decided to test me on it this week. I was on the phone when a friend when I brought up davening (praying) in a synagogue. Davening in a synagogue has been a tough issue for… Continue reading Disabled people should be neither seen or heard
One more art class and it’s over for my artistic abilities this summer. I was hoping that taking a class would get me drawing again but I can’t seem to manage my time well enough to crack open my pad and pencils every other day. Here are three pieces from my fifth art class. We… Continue reading Playing with Oil Pastels
I get asked a lot about my “green goo” so I figured I’d just post about it to the site. My fridge is almost always stocked with this “green goo” and if it’s not we go without beans. And what, I ask those of you who understand the Dominican mind, is rice without beans? Nothing!… Continue reading The Famous Green Goo
I always got confused when a paper asked, “What was your first language?” I didn’t have one language, I had two. For as long as I could remember, I was spoken to in English and in Spanish. My parents had immigrated in their teens with my grandparents to the United States. By the time their… Continue reading Losing the Language
From Rav Binny Freedman of Isralight on Parshas Balak: “The concept of being ‘chosen’ as a people does not mean we are better than anyone else. What it means is that we, (like any other nation) have our own special gifts and therefore our own special purpose. And this different (and not better) relationship with… Continue reading Am I more special than you?
Rich Addicks/AJCPamela Harris, and her husband, Jimmy, are part of a growing a trend in the US, blacks converting to Judaism. I’m black, Jewish and I’m proud! Okay, I’m not but this article, “Judaism drawing more blacks” takes a look at the African-Americans learning Judaism in Atlanta. Correction: Oy vey, I stand corrected. According to… Continue reading Say it loud!
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 