Posted in Musings on May 4th, 2009
If you want to welcome people to your community, whether your Jewish community, your workplace or your secular institution, you have to talk to them in a friendly way. Sometimes this is very simple–you just hold out your hand, say hello and it’s all good. Sometimes, however, your language can get in the way. It […]
Posted in The Rest of the World, Weddings, Marriage and Relationships, Outreach, Interdating, Other religions, Musings, Intermarriage on Mar 23rd, 2009
Nearly three years ago I moved to St. Louis. A friend of ours insisted that we join a local synagogue with a rabbi he described as the most thoughtful and knowledgeable he had ever met. It sounded like a plan–the synagogue was a quick walk from our home. The next day was Shavuot, when we […]
Posted in Shabbat and Other Holidays, Purim, Musings on Mar 10th, 2009
I didn’t mean to let the entire Purim holiday go by without a greeting on our blog! Today I was the designated parent at home with my son, who has the bug that is going around. I think I’ve caught it too. I feel achy and chilled.
It’s not a hangover, though it feels like one. […]
Posted in Jews of color, Growing up in an Interfaith Family, Musings on Feb 18th, 2009
I get a lot out of the investigative journalism that Shemarya Rosenberg provides for free to the Jewish community, and he mainly gets a lot of undeserved mean and nasty comments for it. But this guest post on Rosenberg’s blog Failed Messiah did not pass the logic test.
Based on reading a story by Hillel Halkin […]
Posted in Jewish web resources, Musings on Feb 10th, 2009
I had a great phone conversation yesterday with Bruce Black, the editor of The Jewish Writing Project. Bruce is looking for people to write about what it means to them to be Jewish. Here’s how he described what he’s seeking:
We come to our writing without pre-conditions, seeking through words a path that will lead us […]
Posted in Rabbinic Officiation, Musings, Marketing Judaism on Feb 9th, 2009
Fee For Service Judaism may hold us until we get our communal act together in a new way.
Judaism is changing, yet again. Many feel it is changing for the wrong reasons or in a bad way, but the fact of the change is palpable.
Post Holocaust Judaism in North America was built on two major foundational […]
Posted in Jews of color, Growing up in an Interfaith Family, Musings, Conversion on Jan 22nd, 2009
Here at InterfaithFamily.com, one of our missions is to encourage the Jewish community to be welcoming to people in interfaith families.
A key issue that we don’t often discuss in this connection is race, and this hopeful, inclusive moment seems like a great time to do it. Because the majority of Jews in the United States […]
Posted in Spirituality, The Rest of the World, Popular Culture, Musings, Other religions on Jan 9th, 2009
As a North American Jew, I’m accustomed to reading the endless kvetching of Jewish traditionalists about how American Judaism is inauthentic, assimilated or corrupted. It’s our default position as a community. We often bewail each other’s creativity and spirituality in the process. What I like is learning that all the other religions in the […]
Posted in December Holidays, Popular Culture, Humor, Musings on Dec 30th, 2008
I admit it, I watch daytime TV.  I have been watching General Hospital since the 5th grade. No, I am not going to tell you how long ago that was…
I have been looking for an opportunity to link my General Hospital habit to something Jewish. Finally, it happened last week!  It was both good and bad.
I […]
Posted in Popular Culture, The Rest of the World, Musings, Intermarriage, Conversion, Uncategorized on Nov 3rd, 2008
If you are like me, you are getting ready to stay up all night tomorrow, watching the election returns. I do not remember an election in my adult life that seemed as important to the United States’ future.
As Americans debate the politics of the election, some are debating another matter. Some bloggers claimed to have […]
