Fear No (One Else’s) Holiday
If Halloween makes you fear for your Judaism, your problem isn’t Halloween.
Twenty Christmases and an Eitz Hamoedim
The meaning in our holidays, our journeys, and our lives is our own to forge. The point isn’t satisfying someone else’s ideas about who we should be. The point is wholeness, understanding, and love.
In Merry Measure
Get out of your head. Raise your eyes to the heavens. Never forget that joy is the baseline, not the finish line. Whether Christmas is coming or just another Wednesday, our job is to love one another every day.
Turkey Under the Wrong Tent, Part Two
If you left the Thanksgiving table to stand in line at a department store, did you really deserve to be sitting at that table in the first place?
Goodbye, Little Girl
This Thanksgiving, Ryan and I have a lot for which to be thankful. But we’re most grateful for having had the opportunity to give an elderly, withdrawn little black cat a home. And to love her.
“…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.
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.
Target Corp: How About a Nice Menorah for Christmas?
Why does Target Corp. think delivering Chanukah menorahs by Christmas Eve is a selling point for Jews?