Back on the Pig (4)
1/09/12 •
For thousands of years, Judaism’s dietary laws kept us from sharing meals with hostile parties who wanted us to assimilate. But what’s the point of avoiding bacon cheeseburgers in 2012?
Recent Posts
Carmen Elena Doyle, z”l, 1929-1996 (0)
1/06/12 •
As we live our days, these are the ways we remember. This Shabbat, I remember my mother.
Eight Nights to Renew Your Inner Jewish Child (5)
12/20/11 •
Happy Chanukah to all my readers! The festival of lights is a good time to remember our Jewish holidays are for everyone. So even if you’re over 12, light that chanukiyah with pride. All eight nights.
You Take the Good, You Take the Bad (2)
12/09/11 •
A Jew who’s always happy is like an Illinois Governor who’s always law-abiding. The concept is faulty on the face of it. Simcha and tsouris go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. In life, or on the blogosphere.
You Got Your Bar Mitzah Ceremony in My Shabbat Morning Service! (7)
12/07/11 •
When the b’nai mitzvah crowds elbow regular synagogue members out of the sanctuary, whose Shabbos is it, anyway?
The December Dilemma Is a Choice (6)
12/01/11 •
I thought a lot about the Jewish ‘December Dilemma’ before putting up my holiday tree this year. I kept coming back to one question. What, exactly, are we afraid of in the first place?
Fifteen Christmases and an Eitz Moed (6)
11/29/11 •
Last December, on a Jewish journey and with my possessions in storage, I celebrated my first tree-free holiday season. This year, officially Jewish and back in my own apartment, I’m finally faced with the December Dilemma. Jews don’t put up Christmas trees, and there’s no such thing as a Chanukah bush. And then I got an idea.
First You Do (the High Holy Days), and Then You Hear (1)
11/14/11 •
The High Holy Days that marked the beginning of 5772 also marked the end of my first observed Jewish year. I expected the Days of Awe to be fulfilling. But what was missing turned out to be the best part of all.
Counting to Ten (3)
9/09/11 •
Ten years after 9/11, to the older but wiser, blogging Jewish Chicagoan that I’ve become, about the only thing that still resonates for me is the sense of loss. It’s still there. It always will be, but life goes on. And so do we, God willing.
A Jew By Any Other Name (7)
9/01/11 •
I wear my kippah full-time for two reasons. First, out of a sense of humility before God. Now raise your hand if you’ve ever met someone with an Irish last name and assumed they were Jewish. That’s the other reason.
Featured Categories
Community»
12/09/11 •
You Take the Good, You Take the Bad12/07/11 •
You Got Your Bar Mitzah Ceremony in My Shabbat Morning Service!8/19/11 •
Shake Hands with Whose Uncle Max?8/16/11 •
Jewish with the Drawbridge Pulled Up
Conversion»
8/31/11 •
God Was on the Brown Line and I, I Did Not Know8/03/11 •
Life, the Universe, and Everything Jewish: Six Years of Chicago Carless5/16/11 •
“Do you feel any different?”: My Mikveh Day Report5/12/11 •
Splashdown
Food»
1/09/12 •
Back on the Pig12/20/11 •
Eight Nights to Renew Your Inner Jewish Child9/27/10 •
The Deviled Ham’s in the Details
Holidays»
12/20/11 •
Eight Nights to Renew Your Inner Jewish Child12/01/11 •
The December Dilemma Is a Choice11/29/11 •
Fifteen Christmases and an Eitz Moed11/14/11 •
First You Do (the High Holy Days), and Then You Hear
Observance»
1/09/12 •
Back on the Pig11/14/11 •
First You Do (the High Holy Days), and Then You Hear9/01/11 •
A Jew By Any Other Name8/12/11 •
When a Reform Jew Lays Tefillin
Ritual»
12/20/11 •
Eight Nights to Renew Your Inner Jewish Child12/07/11 •
You Got Your Bar Mitzah Ceremony in My Shabbat Morning Service!8/12/11 •
When a Reform Jew Lays Tefillin5/16/11 •
“Do you feel any different?”: My Mikveh Day Report
Talmud Torah»
8/17/11 •
Getting to the Point with the Yetzer Hara5/11/11 •
Perfect4/30/11 •
How Far Would You Go to Repair the World?4/12/11 •
How We Make a Jew
