To Make A Kiddush Hashem Or To Do The Right Thing?
(Originally posted here) That is the question… In yeshiva I found a wallet while riding my bike once, after telling someone, I forget who, possibly a beis medrish guy – he told me some shocking news....
View ArticleLove The Stranger
By Danny Stauffer One day as I was studying the Torah I noticed that the commandment to love the stranger was repeated several times. I’m sure as good Jews we’ve all read the Torah and noticed the same...
View ArticleKristin The Jewbie: Tzniut
To those that don’t know what Tzniut is, it sounds exotic, like some beautiful place or maybe even a silky piece of clothing. But when defined, or summed up, the first word that comes to mind would be...
View ArticleAtheists Seem To Have It So Easy
(Originally posted by our friend Heshy Fried here) Atheists really seem to have it easy. They probably don’t, but when I look at them from afar it seems to be an easy life. A life of non-believing and...
View ArticleCan You Disbelieve Everything and Still Be Jewish?
I posted a video a while back saying that, in my opinion, all you really needed to do to be Jewish was believe in the G-d of the Torah. I also put in a few nods to the importance of diversity, LGBT...
View ArticleWhat It Takes To Be a Jew
So if you’ve ever read any of my other blogs, you probably know where I started off. But if you haven’t, I’ll just give you a little bit of a rundown so that you can understand this blog. My mother’s...
View ArticleBrussels 2001
I set out tonight to find some of the Jewish landmarks in Brussels. I had a page torn from The Jewish Traveler (Chapter “Brussels”, page 90 to be exact). I was relatively familiar with the location of...
View ArticleI’ve Never Liked Synagogues Or Indie Record Stores
Two things about myself that may surprise you: I’ve never liked indie record stores. I’ve never really liked synagogue. But Patrick, you say, how can you not like the independent music shop or the...
View ArticleThe Torah Is Like (Bottled) Water
The words of Torah are likened to water, as it is written, O all who thirst, come for water, (Is. 55:1) Just as water goes from one end of the earth to the other, so does Torah go from one end of the...
View ArticleWhy I Am PunkTorah
You’ve probably read Patrick’s Jewcy blog post called, “You Might Be PunkTorah If…”. If not, here’s a link. Read it. It’s good. It’s funny and it’s true. It’s funny because it’s true. It also made me...
View Article“For Every Rabbinical Will, There is a Halachkic Way”
In a world where for every rabbinical will, there is a halachkic way, what do we do to answer questions about that which is new? Where do we find the rulings that allows one to live life in the real,...
View ArticleMeditation on the Omer
49, 48, 47… The opening moments of Passover are behind me, and I’m left with a sense of something momentous having passed with it. There’s a dryness in my mouth and heaviness in my gut that has nothing...
View ArticleDirections: An Essay
I glanced over at the gentleman to my right. As he stood, nose inches from the text, caught up in his prayers and oblivious to my gaze, my attention wandered to the cover of his siddur and remained...
View ArticleSnow Globe Judaism
“But now,” says the Once-ler, “Now that you’re here, The word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better… It’s not.” -Dr....
View ArticleNorway, Amy Winehouse and My Guinea Pig: Why G-d Really Sucks Sometimes
Is the world going straight to hell? Is God completely out of the picture? Three things happened this Shabbat that made me doubt my faith. First, it was the pre-Shabbat death of my guinea pig, Mr....
View ArticleToo Much, or Not Enough
Tragically, a family in my neighborhood lost their house this weekend to fire. Everyone escaped without injury (thank God), but the house and its contents are likely a total loss. The fire probably...
View ArticleThe G-d Project: What We Are Learning About the Jewish People
Over at The G-d Project, we have posted a first glimpse into our finding on what the Jewish people really think about G-d, Jewish spirituality and identity. While it’s best to watch the videos directly...
View ArticleOn Writing, and On Praying
“I guess I’m just not someone who prays. It’s probably something you’ve either got or you don’t.” The comment stuck with me because it echoed the thoughts in “On Writing, Not Writing, and the Writing...
View ArticleIntertwined
A few months ago a friend of mine – someone who travels a lot for work – sent me this message from his blackberry as he waited to board a flight: “Dawn is breaking. A young man a few rows down,...
View ArticleIf a Jew Prays in the Airport…
…and nobody makes a fuss, God still hears the prayer. You may remember my friend who was so inspired by seeing another person davening at the airport, that he (and I) got our own set of tefillin. If...
View ArticleThe Real Miracle
“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” — G.K. Chesterton I picked up this picture and quote from my friend...
View ArticleBibliomancy: Seeing Clearly in Tevet?
Here’s a little bit of deep spiritual practice, disguised as light fun, for Tevet. This month of Tevet, which began at sundown on December 26th, 2011 and ends at sundown on January 24, 2012, is...
View Article10 Tevet: Jewish Emo and Mourner’s Kaddish
Imagine someone you love got cancer (G-d forbid!) and dies. You know you have to observe their yahrzeit, but looking at your calendar that you get every year from the local Jewish funeral home, you...
View ArticleJewishness, Genealogy and Apples For Some Reason
I’m not sure how many of you watch those genealogy shows on TV – you know the ones I mean, the shows that follow celebrities about as they wander Europe discovering that they’re descended from royal...
View ArticleClueless: An Insight Into Doing Jewish “Wrong”
I arrived at the kollel, the house of study (literally – this was a house that had been emptied of everything, including interior walls, and re-purposed as a space for married men to come and study...
View ArticleDisability and Finding Jewish Community
The first thing a newcomer to a synagogue wants to do is scoot into an inconspicuous seat and blend in. Finding a seat is easy for me, because I travel with my own; what’s harder is finding a place...
View ArticleCan You Say Kaddish For A Dead Business?
Putting the words “Jewish” and “business” in the same article is bound to get some comments. Of course, we as a people have a reputation for being very savvy in the career world. But sometimes life is...
View ArticleKnow That You Are Loved
The story was a familiar one; however, this time, it was a young man who I knew since his early childhood. Having grown up with a few learning and behavioral challenges, Reece grew up believing he was...
View ArticleForegiveness: A Yom Kippur Thought
In the midst of a deep spiritual crises, the “golden calf” episode, the Creator revealed to Moses the “Thirteen Attributes of Compassion” (Exodus 34:6,7). Since then, invoking these “Thirteen...
View ArticleHaftarah Emor: Priest Rules
In this week’s haftorah, some of the many (and I do mean many) specifications of the rights and responsibilities of the kohanim are iterated in painstaking detail from how they shall dress in the...
View ArticleParshah Behar-Bechukotai: Living a Long, Happy, Jewish Life
Harvard http://www.businessinsider.com/grant-study-reveals-what-makes-us-happy-2013-4 spent seventy five years to find out what makes a happy life. It’s one of the longest-running studies on human...
View ArticleParsha Bamidbar: Batman and Math Dyslexia
I have a confession to make: I have math dyslexia. It’s never been diagnosed formally, but I have always had a sense of it. Sometimes, when I read math problems, the numbers mix up in my head. A clock...
View ArticleI Run A Synagogue For Poor People (Jewish Jane Doe)
Author’s note: I’ve been deeply involved in Jewish communal life in several different communities in three different states. Over the next few months, I will be sharing my insider observations about...
View ArticleHaftorah Naso: Son. . .You Don’t Need A Haircut!
This week’s haftorah chronicles the birth of Samson to the childless Manoah and his wife of Tribe Dan. A visiting angel informs the mother-to-be that her son is to be a lifetime...
View ArticleParshah Behaalotecha: Better Than Golden Corral and Ryan’s Steakhouse Combined!
Buffets in general are just sleazy. Think about it: you’re eating piles and piles of cheap food while kids with sticky hands run around screaming and people with less than ideal hygiene sneeze, cough...
View ArticleHaftorah Bechaalatecha: We Want Moshiach!
Before we even start on this one, anybody else do a double-take at the name of this week’s parsha/haftorah? Bechawhaa? I looked it up and discovered it means, “when you step up,” and is...
View ArticleWhat’s That String Sticking Out Of Your Pants? (Parshah Shelach Lecha)
There’s this urge when you become religious to buy every piece of Judaica possible. It’s a process that starts with simple jewelry, of course with chamsas and magen david on them. Then we move onto...
View ArticleI’m Joining the Korach Synagogue (Parshah Korach)
This week’s torah portion is about rebellion. It’s about a guy named Korach who asks Moses the million dollar question: if everyone amongst the children of Israel is holy, a nation of priests, then why...
View ArticleIdolatry Is Totally OK (Parshah Chukat)
Picture it: Limmud Weekend. Two summers ago. I’m at a retreat for Jewish adults and families. It’s like summer camp, for everyone. And at this very moment, I’m having a shouting match with a rabbi. I...
View ArticleWhat Girl Talk’s Mashups and the Bible Have In Common (Parshah Balak)
In case you’re not the clubbing type, Girl Talk is an electro-mashup artist who’s quasi-illegal music takes samples from other people’s music and fuses it together with other samples, creating new and...
View ArticleThe Parshah Pinchas Feminist Dvar Torah Roundup Spectacular
No way around it, Parshah Pinchas is about the power of women to stand together in solidarity: and how God is completely cool with that. So in honor of that spirit, we bring you a boat load of dvrei...
View ArticleTisha b’Av, A Holy Day of Sadness
Tish b’Av, a holy day of sadness, commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, a day when we read the Book of Lamentations and on which many fast. Is there any benefit to living in the...
View ArticleNo Blood No bones: why for me, vegetarianism is the best way to keep kosher
I am writing this a week after accidently consuming a vegetarian stir-fry that mistakenly had oyster sauce in it. As a result of this I became ill over the next few days as my body tried to rid...
View ArticleHas Anyone Seen My Kavanah?
Okay, here’s the thing: while I typically possess the organizational skills of an ant with OCD, over this past year my every attempt at organization has been confounded. I believe that this is due, in...
View ArticleSpiritual Parenting
I became a mother in September of 2012. Although maybe it was August. You see, one month before my daughter was born, my teenaged cousin came to live with my partner and me. He was about to turn 16 –...
View ArticleParshat Vayeishev: The Courage of Joseph by Russell McAlmond
The parsha of Vayeishev has one of the most well-known stories in the Torah. Most Jews, and many Christians, are very familiar with the story of Joseph’s coat of many colors given to him by his loving...
View ArticleOy, Revolt! Channukah and the Story of the First Punks by Joedah Maccabi
Hello all, sorry about the delay in writing but I’ve been quite busy with university. So without further ado, let’s get to my theory of Jews being the first punks. If we look at all the various...
View ArticleTu B’Shevat Happy New Year Trees
Tu B’shevat is very much a minor holiday to us today, perhaps it’s because most of us no longer work the land to provide for our families and communities. Perhaps it’s because few people care for the...
View ArticleGod Demands Jewish Innovation: Second Passover
As if Passover Number One wasn’t bad enough, on 14 Iyar we are given the opportunity to do Passover all over again with Pesach Sheini, the Second Passover. According to Numbers 9:1-14 (Parshah...
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