For the second year in a row, my husband and I spent our summer in Los Angeles. Again, my husband was playing the role of rabbinic intern at a local Orthodox congregation, Bnai David Judea, where he, in fact, had his bar mitzvah. And while he was off learning to be a rabbi, everyone wondered… Continue reading Leaving Los Angeles
Mayim Bialik (better known as 1990’s TV character Blossom Russo) tells Tablet Magazine about her “Wardrobe” and how it reflects her beliefs.
The film “Arranged” is a New York story about two Brooklyn public school teachers. One teacher is an Orthodox Jewish young woman, Rochel and the other a devout Muslim, Nasira, who become friends in the midst of the period in their life when their well-meaning, but sometimes off-the-mark parents try to marry them off. At… Continue reading Friendship has no religion
Only a couple of more classes left to my Stand-up Comedy class at Santa Monica College. My stand-up comedy teacher wants me to be more conversational and less theatrical when I deliver my bits. My husband said, “Is he asking you to be more white and less Dominican?” Aliza on Stupid Questions I am a… Continue reading Stand-up Comedy Routine #4
Are you Jewish? Can you prove it? ”Rabbinate refuses to marry Jewish couple over adoption suspicion” It won’t be just converts having to show their papers anymore. Do you have your certificate of Jewishness handy? Orthodox Women Rabbis? ”Between a rav and a hard place” Profile on Rabbi Avi Weiss wonders whether or not the rav has… Continue reading News of Note
As you may have read on previous posts and/or Twitter, I am taking a Stand-up Comedy class at Santa Monica College. (I’m also taking a Figure Drawing class and a Memoir Writing class.) My husband, being ever supportive as always, has already decided I’m the funniest person in my class even though he’s never been… Continue reading Stand-up Comedy Routine #1
Alysa Stanton, a Conservative convert (previous articles said Orthodox) who practices Reform Judaism and has been previously featured on this blog to much fanfare, will be the First black female rabbi to take N.C. pulpit”. Diane Tobin, Associate Director of The Institute for Jewish & Community Research and founder of Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue),… Continue reading Taking North Carolina By Storm…
I discovered a new blog, “Mixed Race America” and because of it three spoken word poets to rival Vanessa Hidary, the Hebrew Mamita (previously featured on this blog). First, check out Alix Olsen doing “America’s On Sale” below. If you’re curious for more, log onto to this recent post from the Mixed Race America blog,… Continue reading Attention Kmart Shoppers!
My energy level is dropping quickly but I hate to finish the day without remarking on my talks at Brooklyn College today. A really cool professor there had me come in to speak to his students, another professor’s students and the broader Brooklyn College audience. Incredibly, I was representing the Judaic Studies, Latino Studies and… Continue reading Brooklyn College Take Two: Ruminations on my latest talk
My post about Alysa Stanton, an African-American woman who had an Orthodox conversion and then decided to pursue a career in the Reform rabbinate, has sparked a lot of controversy off the blog. Does one Orthodox convert’s decision to leave Orthodoxy affect the way that other Orthodox converts are perceived? Should it? I think we… Continue reading This is between me and G-d….
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 