Fellow Latina Jewish artist Maya Escobar, who has been featured on this blog before, recognized her own when she decided to feature Vanessa Hidary, the Hebrew Mamita, on her own blog. The YouTube video below is the Jewess’s riff on “Ga Bless You Ma.” For those of you innocents, this is a common enough phrase slung… Continue reading Bless you!
Another regular day in the Yeshiva of Hogwarts…. I live in my own little bubble. For the most part, my close friends are in their 20s. They are either starting their families or have infants and I’m hoping that they didn’t read “Applying for Day School Aid: A Degrading Experience” in Jewish Week. (I’m still… Continue reading The Thrills and Chills of Pondering Day School Education
Just what was I expecting “From Ghetto to Ghetto”? As a writer and fellow convert myself to Judaism, I have read many, many books about the journeys others have traveled to conversion. I have loved none so much as Julius Lester’s “Lovesong: Becoming a Jew.” I devoured, gobbled it down, page by page. And yet,… Continue reading How do you get from ghetto to ghetto?
I am many things but I am not sleep deprived. Ever since leaving behind the rat race (teaching at a New York City public school in my case), I have been catching up on much needed sleep. Now I get oodles of it, hours of it and when I’m lucky, a handful of it is… Continue reading Sleep Deprived
I didn’t have much Internet access in Los Angeles towards the end of my little Passover vacation there so alas, I didn’t have time to schedule anything for my Sunday slot. Still, I was catching up on your comments on my phone, missing Twitter and Facebook desperately and suffering from the aftereffects of jetlag, sleep… Continue reading Silence
Hallelujah, shalom: Rabbi Funnye singing at Shabbat services. (Alec Soth/Magnum, for The New York Times) Conservative rabbi (and convert) Rabbi Capers Funnye is putting the black back in Judaism. (Okay, so it was already there.) And the New York Times noticed. They profiled him in a piece called “Barack Obama’s Rabbi”. The piece also gives… Continue reading Barack Obama’s Rabbi
My sister is in New York missing out on the Passover festivities. When I told her we would be going away for Passover, she asked where she was supposed to go for her seders. And no, my sister’s not Jewish. She called me up to tell me she’s watching Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire… Continue reading Did you hear the one about…?
The Israeli rabbinate has been quiet on conversion lately and in its stead, the Interior Ministry has decided to make news. A recent article (“Fresh Rift Seen Over New Israeli Conversion Rules,” February 25, The Jewish Week-New York) says that stricter guidelines will be imposed for diaspora converts wishing to immigrate to Israel. Conversion must… Continue reading 350 Hours of Oppression
Next year will be my last in New York. Gulp. Scary. I am one of those New Yorkers who thinks the entire world revolves around New York City. I have spent my whole life here. The farthest I have gotten is those two years I lived in Brooklyn. And now, these two years in the… Continue reading World Rebbetzin
The WEDDING I can’t sleep. I went to a wedding last night. No worries, I think I did very well. I didn’t notice myself doing anything embarrassing, though I’ll admit that isn’t the best way to make sure since I’m not the best barometer on these things. Oh, one confession, I used a bad word.… Continue reading Where are you from ORIGINALLY?
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 