Everyone said Israel would feel different. That’s what everyone kept telling me when I decided to venture out there in 2006. But when I got off cranky and in pain from the long flight, I didn’t feel anything except crankiness and pain. They told me to go stand by a wall and that would help… Continue reading Motherland’s Calling and it’s a Conference Call
I hate forwarded emails with a passion. I’m already crippling myself by being on the computer and it just pisses me off when I have to look at stupid stuff unexpectedly. So it’s really surprising how taken I have been with a “forward” of sorts that’s been going around Facebook. Many of my friends have… Continue reading 25 Random Things About Me
I’ve got plenty to say about my trip to Europe. You’ll soon hear all about the mystifying, wide-eyed journey of a welfare child navigating Italy with a hodgepodge of broken Spanish and Italian. I made sure to take copious notes during my first and only trip to Europe ever and you will be subject to… Continue reading A Jewish Face
Memoirist and filmmaker Sadia Shepard Back from a week in Italy, my friends, more on that later. In the meantime, please check out my latest piece for Interfaithfamily.com. It’s a profile on Sadia Shepard and her memoir, “The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories and a Sense of Home”. I hope… Continue reading Three Religions, Three Cultures and A Search for Identity
“Oops, You’re Not Jewish” sounds like a great title for a book but really it’s an article in Hadassah Magazine by writer/blogger Gershom Gorenberg which focuses on the state of Jewish conversion. Here is a quick soundbite from the piece: “Susan Weiss—the founder and director of the CWJ and herself an observant Jew—has petitioned the… Continue reading Oops, You’re Not Jewish!
Ever play “Jewish Geography” as a convert? It’s pretty painful. Though, honestly, pretty much everyone assumes I’m a convert or knows I’m a convert so I rarely get dragged into the game. But one night I attended a dinner where one woman insisted that I looked familiar. I told her I doubted it since she… Continue reading A Lesson on Jewish Geography
Really, can Israel survive without Judaism? In a story by the Canadian Jewish News, “Israel must embrace Judaism to survive: Nobel laureate”, Nobel Prize laureate Robert Aumann, left, warned last week that Jews in Israel may not survive as a nation unless they em-brace Jewish values. Ah, Israel, I remember thee well. In case, you… Continue reading Can Israel Survive Without Judaism?
“Jewish leaders pressing Israel over conversions” made me wonder why Israel does not pursue instituting secular marriage, secular burial rights, really, secular options. Why fight to make conversion secular when these institutions themselves can be made secular? Give people choices. As the article notes, it doesn’t seem fair that so many immigrants were allowed to… Continue reading Does Israel Need Secular Options?
How many ways can the Jewish people hate each other? Let me count the ways. “Another Bad Date between Israel and Diaspora Jews?” chronicles yet another example of Jew-on-Jew hate. And if you’re looking for more examples, check out the comments to my article 100% Kosher which included comments that real Jews live in Israel… Continue reading Another bad date between American and Israeli Jews
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 