You know you’re Jewish when you get caught completely unawares by endless Christmas Eve traffic. We sat in it for two hours mystified as we drove from Times Square back to Riverdale after lunching with some friends. We came home to a sad, empty little fridge but we thought we could sit the rain out… Continue reading Things You’ll Hear @ the Kosher Mart on Christmas Eve
http://d.yimg.com/static.video.yahoo.com/yep/YV_YEP.swf?ver=2.2.30 Hilly Gross at the 10th Anniversary of the LSS Beginners Service @ Yahoo! Video He has a very interesting perspective to share on the people that attend Beginners services at Lincoln Square synagogue. I think the same idea applies to all baalei teshuva and converts everywhere. Enjoy the jokes, they’re killer!
According to a post on Vivir Latino, a blog I just discovered, “a study released by the America Association of Retired People (AARP), at least 82% of Latinos 45 and older do.” The post says, “[The study] sort of plays to the stereotype of Latino’s faith as being more “folky” and less real and respectable.”… Continue reading Miracles, miracles, everywhere…
Sadia Shepard’s op-ed piece in the Forward, “Targeting Tolerance in Mumbai”, has led to a debate about hyphenated identities. One reader, Yehuda, swears they don’t exist. (Are we a myth? I just pinched myself and I seem to be very real.) The other reader, Pamela, an African American/Carribean American (represent!) woman, says we do. Here… Continue reading I don’t exist?
In case you haven’t heard about it “Girl Meets God” is a book about a girl, Lauren F. Winner, who grows up in an interfaith family (Jewish father, Christian mother) and decides to convert to Orthodox Judaism. Then she goes and converts to Christianity. Sadia Shepard suggested I read it as part of my voyage… Continue reading Girl Meets God…Once…Twice…
According to The Jerusalem Post, “Anti-Semitism is not the same as Islamophobia”. And neither is Anti-Semitism the same as racism or Islamophobia the same as racism. This all brings me back to an early post on the misappropriation of the word racism. While both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are forms of discrimation, of prejudice, they are… Continue reading Anti-Semitism is not Islamophobia is not Racism
Ever since fibromyalgia, going to shul on Shabbos has become a painful process for me, an almost certain guarantee of a fibro attack. Unfortunately, my shul is not handicap accessible when you consider my disability. I’m not even sure how it could be. But a new study highlighted in the NY Times article, “Patterns: Better… Continue reading The Religiously Observant are Healthier
http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die Jack Black is Jesus in a Funny or Die video of biblical proportions.
Someone posted that they’re having trouble coordinating learning with an Orthodox rabbi. That’s no surprise to me. I think the only reason my rabbi is so available when I need him is that he doesn’t sleep. Ever. It also helps that I was not entirely dependent on him for all my learning. During my conversion… Continue reading Learn, Learn, Learn
Muslim-Jewish relations were on my mind after my interview with Sadia Shepard, but I was shy about bringing it up. When I got home though, I discovered a little treat in my inbox. The Riverdale Press featured an interesting spin on Muslim-Jewish relations right here in Riverdale. In the story, “At Riverdale Jewish Center, Muslim… Continue reading Muslim-Jewish Relations
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 