7/12/2011 Shalom uvrakha to all members and supporters of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. During the past several weeks, I have had many meetings during our stay here in Jerusalem. I’ve met with current and future authors of articles for our journal, Conversations, and our website jewishideas.org. I gave a lecture at the… Continue reading Conversion goes back to 2006
Why is there a dating website for Jews of color by Jews of color? Isn’t that “racist”? My good friend Shais Rison aka blogger MaNishtana writes a rousing response to the flood of emails he’s received asking this particular question about his recent decision to start JOCFlock, a dating website for Jews of color and… Continue reading Why is there a dating website for Jews of color by Jews of color?
Yesterday, I turned 30 years old. Thanks to the fan who donated $25. She didn’t even know it was my birthday but it was the perfect present! Of course, now that I’m 30, I will be telling people I’m 25. Until I’m 40. Anyway, now that I am 30, I look back on how far… Continue reading I’m 30!
http://video.aish.com/AishSharePlayer/Player-v20100309.swf This is an all too familiar story if you’ve been reading this blog: a non-Jewish woman married to a Jewish husband wants to convert but the Jewish family is horrified and they tell her “be Jewish but don’t be too Jewish!” In this wonderful video, Lori Platanik tells us the story of her friend… Continue reading Converted, Married and a baby on the way…all in two weeks!
Every once in a while, I get a letter from a non-Jewish woman who wants to convert to Judaism. She’s married to a Jewish guy and the more she learns about Judaism, the more she wants to be Jewish herself and raise a Jewish family. She thoroughly checks out all her options and decides she… Continue reading I want to convert, he doesn’t want me to
Hi Aliza, I have an etiquette for you. I know this is a touchy subject. I have a good friend who’s very aggressively JDate-ing. She met a guy on whose name is very Jewish (last name Katz) and who went to a Jewish day school in Los Angeles. He looks black. She asked me when… Continue reading A touchy subject: Race and Dating Jewish
I’ve got a heck of a conversion news roundup coming up next week if I can get it together. Some of the news is bleak, some of the news isn’t so bad. Generally, I’ve noticed that news isn’t always so uplifting and I’ve worried that reading so much sad news about conversion would really affect… Continue reading Good news is good news
My husband teaches a class Thursday nights at a synagogue downtown. And because I hadn’t seen so much of him that week, I decided to join him. We stopped to pick up some food at the place he always gets dinner at and I waited for our order while my husband ran to start his… Continue reading Just give me my freakin’ kibbeh (quipe)
I don’t write about my Dad (“Papi”) as much as I write about my mother. My father hightailed it when I was 4. My younger sister was one. He came back after they were divorced and made me another sister. While my parents were still married, my father made me a half-sibling which I later… Continue reading Dreams of My Father
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2376087&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1 Blogger Esther Kustanowitz does a fine job narrating the precursor for many telenovelas to come: the baby mamy drama in the house of Jacob. Parshat Vayetze from G-dcast.com More Torah cartoons at http://www.g-dcast.com
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 