Judaism

Judaism

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

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.

Judaism

You Got Your Bar Mitzah Ceremony in My Shabbat Morning Service!

When the b'nai mitzvah crowds elbow regular synagogue members out of the sanctuary, whose Shabbos is it, anyway?

Judaism

The December Dilemma Is a Choice

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?

Judaism

Fifteen Christmases and an Eitz Moed

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 bu

Judaism

First You Do (the High Holy Days), and Then You Hear

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.

Judaism

A Jew By Any Other Name

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.

Judaism

Shake Hands with Whose Uncle Max?

All Jewish converts face the challenge of fitting into Judaism and into a Jewish community. But how do you find your comfort zone in a sanctuary echoing with the sounds of chanted Hebrew, and full of people with last names and lifetime experiences different than yours? You do, with practice. And tim

Judaism

Getting to the Point with the Yetzer Hara

If life were always perfect, why would God bother to put us here? A meditation on the need for the Yetzer Hara--Judaism's 'evil inclination' that makes the world go 'round.

Judaism

Jewish with the Drawbridge Pulled Up

There's a right way and a wrong way for Jewish institutions to welcome visitors. The moment the balance between security and openness starts to close an institution off from the wider community is the moment it gets harder to repair the world.

Judaism

One Fewer Online Community for Converts

It was fun while it lasted. It imploded unexpectedly. A sudden farewell to the now-defunct JewsByChoice.org.

Judaism

When a Reform Jew Lays Tefillin

In theory, Reform Jews can follow any commandment by which they feel moved. But some traditional practices move few Reform Jews. Praying every morning with tefillin is usually one of those practices. Here's why it moves me--and why that's just fine.

Judaism

A Blog Post from Camp

Hello, muddah. Hello, faddah. Here I am at camp OSRUI. An unexpected lesson on my first synagogue retreat to the Union for Reform Judaism's Midwest overnight youth camp.