Category archive for ‘LIFE’ 
-
Become a Jew in 28 Easy Books: My Conversion Reading List
Study is a central part of every decision to join the Jewish people. How central? How about 7,000 pages? Here is a list of the 28 books I read during the nine months of my conversion journey to become a Reform Jew.
-
Now how much would you pay?
As I learned staying with friends during my nine months of near-homelessness last year, misery really doesn’t love company.
-
Reprising the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I am officially a big, fat hypocrite. A big, fat hypocrite who’s moving back home…to Marina City.
-
The Kippah of Conversation
Yes, I’m becoming a religious Reform Jew. Yes, I wear a kippah full-time. Yes, my last name is Doyle. Uh, can we talk about the weather now?
-
“…But one of the worst is commercialism.”
In this second of two tardy Yuletide posts, I realize just how crass a secular Christmas can be, by spending my first one as an outsider looking in.
-
Oy to the World
When a well-meaning friend asked me on Christmas Eve, “Is being at temple tonight hard for you?” they were surprised I said, “No.” I wasn’t surprised at all.
-
The Miracle of the Smoldering Carpet
Lessons from my first-ever first night of Chanukah: check wooden matches for cracks; don’t use the match box to put out the carpet; …and be prepared to feel six-years-old all over again.
-
I, Akeelah
So. My blog–and I–have joyed out lately. Not to mention Jewed out, compassioned out, and otherwise jumped for happy. And the lesson for me in all of that? That I don’t need to apologize for one sickeningly lovely moment of what, as it turns out, is the time of my life.
-
Fourteen Christmases and a Chanukiyah
Living Jewishly obviously means spending the period from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Eve with a different emphasis. This year, I’ll leave my well-known tree fetish behind. But as I ponder all the adult Christmases I’ve kept, I’m realizing I won’t miss that holiday’s sense of joy and wonder…because I’m increasingly finding those feelings to be an everyday part of my new journey.
-
Maytag Man
Owning household appliances? Normal. Naming household appliances? Pushing it. Feeling like a bad parent for overfilling the dishwasher or watching the Roomba crash into a wall? Me.
