Nu?

Poems and Pants

Ode to the Gray
Winter's tree stands tall and naked;
Branches barely there, it rises
like a puff of smoke
amid fall's remaining
shades of flame and rust.

I really, really miss writing. I think of little blurbs while in the bathtub trying to relax or while bouncing along on the 55 or 36. I used to carry pen and pad with me all the time. But now? Well, when you're crunched up in winter coats, people with newspapers spread out and shoulders broad and impeding ... it's hard to pull anything out of my bag to catch a few words.

On an unrelated note: One of my favorite things about Shabbat -- and this might seem really silly or shallow -- is that while the rest of the world is sporting jeans and sweatshirts for casual Fridays, I am wearing my best, anticipating the night's services where I can welcome in the sabbath and really, finally relax. Most people see their nice shoes, black slacks and nice sweaters as the constricting confines of the week's work and hustle-bustle ... but for me? Those slacks and sweaters are my gift of peace for just one day, after a week busy and tedious.

Clearing the air.

It was supposed to flurry here today, but it hasn't and it won't. I'm ready for snow, so I'm hoping Mother Nature will take the time to dust off those snow shoes and bring it on. Last night I went by Borders, despite my knowing that I have several books that I have yet to pick up that are gathering dust on my shelves at home, to browse. I was immediately caught by Bernice Eisenstein's "I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors," which happens to not only be a textual work, but also an illustrated work. It isn't quite on par with Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman in the abundance of artistry, but it's appropriate and almost whimsical in its form. So far it is a very quick read, and I'm finding it hard to put down. I also picked up "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," because there just aren't enough Medieval scholars, by golly. That is, I'm trying to narrow my focus a little. Will that make me more marketable?

On a separate, albeit more pressing, note, I'd like to say a little more about my poorly planned out and perhaps not very eloquently written blurb about Emma Lazarus. I'll note that I have my reasons for doing this, but I thought I'd just go ahead and get out with it here, since this is my outlet for academic and Jewish rantings.

I'd gone off about Esther Schor's new book "Emma Lazarus" and the blurb about it in Reform Judaism's new issue. My reasons for this are that I spent some time studying Lazarus in my undergrad for one of my classes (I forget which), and I'd been mildly appalled at the makings of one of Judaism's great writers of the modern period. I wrote a 10-page paper (ooo, big doins there, folks), pulling from two books: Dan Vogel’s “Emma Lazarus” and Bette Roth Young’s “Emma Lazarus in her world: Life and Letters," as well as historical organization web sites and the like. My ultimate conclusion from my research was that Emma Lazarus identified as a Jew, of course, but only insomuch as that it was a race of people who it was necessary to assimilate to American life, culture and identity. Lazarus had MANY, we're talking many, works with Jewish themes -- no argument there. When her uncle died, she even wrote an elegy that alluded to the call of the Shofar and Rosh HaShanah. But there were peculiarities about her identity. It was as though Judaism was meant for books, not for practice, and most definitely not for the shtetl lifestyle. She sought a return for Jews to Israel, but only for those Jews not living in the U.S. I think that Lazarus was affected more by her class, perhaps, than being an assimilated Jew. She viewed the Jewish immigrants of the Pogroms as ill suited for American life (thus her approval of Zionism for those not in America).

But these are all *my* thoughts. These are my conclusions from the research I did. I'm not saying that Lazarus didn't identify as a Jew, but that her identification was with a nonexistent form of the "Jew." I'm not exactly sure what her idea of a Jew was, to be honest.

If you're interested in reading the 10-page paper, let me know and I'll ship it along to you. I'd post it freely on the web, but I don't want a snot-nosed freshman ripping off my magic :)

Shalom!

Oy! A woman rabbi!? You must be meshuggenah!

I'd wanted to find a way to work this into the Jewsbychoice.org blog, but I couldn't think of the right way to do it, and I didn't want to push it. I had wanted to go on the angle that I have a lot of pride for my Jewishness because of its ready acceptance to change and progressiveness (though I'm sure there will be a lot of people would disagree with me and say that I'm absolutely insane, but seriously folks, Judaism was the first organized religion to welcome GLBTs and women into ordination ...).

So with that, I present to you Regina Jonas, an Orthodox Jew growing up in a Berlin slum in the 10s, 20s, 30s and 40s. What makes her special, though? She was THE FIRST WOMAN RABBI ... in the history of time ... as we know it. Now, people will say, what about Sally Preisand? Ordained in the 1970s in the U.S.? Wasn't she the first? Nada, nope, niet. Sally holds the honor of being the first female rabbi ordained in the U.S., but she's often considered the first woman, period. There is another woman -- Regina Jonas -- who seems to have fallen through the cracks of history, after her death in Auschwitz in 1944.

I happ'd upon this while looking for some books on Rashi's daughters on Amazon.com. I noticed a book, "Fraulein Rabbiner Jonas: The Story of the First Woman Rabbi," by Elisa Klapheck. I had never heard of this Jonas woman and started searching the web. I then wondered ... how the heck did I miss this woman? How did I miss a woman being ordained in Germany in the 1930s? How did I miss this!? I'm astounded by this woman, though, because she managed to surpass the acceptance of a woman into ordination in any organized group. It would be another 40 years until another woman was ordained.

Shocked at my own ignorance, I searched out Rabbi Regina Jonas and found out the following: She was Orthodox, and maintained her Orthodox observance, even as she was ordained by a Liberal (what the Orthodox called Reform) rabbi in 1935, several years after she'd gotten her certificate to teach Jewish studies and Hebrew. Her thesis, tellingly, was "Can a Woman Be a Rabbi According to Halachic Sources?" which I hope to be able to find, though I don't know that it's possible.

See, the reason Rabbi Jonas was a ghost for so long was that she died in the Holocaust and those Liberal rabbis and scholars who KNEW her, knew her work in the concentration camps (she gave lectures in the camps, which are still on file there), those who prized her work and friendship ... were mute. Leo Baeck, a very well known Jewish scholar who survived the camps, neglected to ever mention Regina Jonas. Why? WHY? Was it because she was a woman? Or was it because she was part of the past -- that part of life before and during the Holocaust? Either way, I find it inexcusable and frustrating. Her existence was only acknowledged when her certificates of ordination were found in 1991 in an archive in Berlin, put there by another scholar who Jonas had entrusted with the documents.

It was not until 1995 that another woman was ordained in Germany.

Jonas is an inspiration, not only because she was the first female rabbi, but because she was absolutely determined. Her father passed away when she was very young, and her mother and her moved near an Orthodox shul, where the rabbi took her under his wing, teaching her all she needed to know. Her passion was outstanding and no one questioned her motives or drive, and after years of trying and trying to become ordained, she achieved that goal. Then the Nazis came to power, sent her away, and killed her at the age of 42.

Here is to you, Rabbi Regina Jonas, for all that you did, all that you set in motion, and all that we hopefully can and will learn for you. May your name be a blessing. Amen.

Some resources (web resources, of course, can be taken with a grain of salt, but taken none the less):
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=431619
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Jonas
http://www.hagalil.com/deutschland/berlin/rabbiner/jonas.htm
http://faculty.smcm.edu/kvonkellenbach/jonas.htm
http://www.brightonandhoveprosynagogue.org.uk/sermon-regina-jones.htm

Lazarus, the colossus of Jewish identity ignorance

I'm only 13 pages into the new Reform Judaism magazine (picked up at shul tonight), and there's a small write-up on Esther Schor's new book, "Emma Lazarus." The write-up says "Schor's portrait serves to restore the centrality of Jewishness in Emma Lazarus' life and work, showing how she consistently put her literary reputation on the line to defend the Jewish people."

Thing is, when I did research about Lazarus in college, every source I read (and I'll admit that it wasn't more than 5-10) gave me the impression -- quite bluntly -- that Lazarus' Jewish identification was one mostly of convenience and pity, not of personal effort or out of any kind of deep connection to her roots. Her family was entirely assimilated and when she died, her sisters left out nearly all of her Jewish works from the collections of her works, citing it as a "phase" she was going through. Lazarus' first real outreach to the Jewish community came during the pogroms in Russia -- she was from a very affluent family and had the money to donate. But her identification as a Jew -- in my research -- was never even an issue. It was merely a fleeting aspect of her life. It played no more a role in her personal development than did the length of her pinky nail.

Then again, this is a topic that I was considering pursuing in graduate studies ... maybe I should read Schor's book and do some cross-researching :D OHHH the excitement!

Shabbat Shalom! Pick a menorah for me :)

So I've had a nice little, basic, simple Menorah that I've used for the past three years, but I'm itchin' for another (new) one! But I can't decide which to get ... what do you think?



The first is the "signature" menorah and the latter is the "music note" menorah. I'm leaning toward the bronze because I already have a silver/aluminum one (it was a Walgreens buy right before shul three years ago!! It was my first Chanukah :D)

On a semi-unrelated note: Services tonight were the most mundane, uninspiring they've been in eons. The people were dead. No one was participating. People were huffing and puffing. Kids were screaming (why are there not sitters at the shul for services?). It was frustrating. Why do people go if they don't want to be there? If they do nothing but moan and groan and nod off? I try to stay in my own zone, knowing that what I get out of services is what I get out of services. But sometimes I wonder: Are people waiting for enlightenment? Hoping that by forcing themselves through services for that WHOLE hour to an hour-and-a-half that a spark of something will rekindle their lust for life? Am I just cynical? I want people to love services and Judaism as much as I do. I want people to really WANT to be there; not for people to feel obligated or anything to be there. I felt like crap all day today. I didn't sleep last night and my stomach was upset and I just wanted to go home, but I made myself go to services because I know that -- for me -- I would regret it tomorrow if I didn't go. My week does not end unless I go to Shabbat; it just keeps going and going. But I didn't force myself to go out of guilt or just because that's what Jews do. I went for me, for my mind and spirit and soul. ARGH! So frustrated.

On a more pleasant note, I appreciated the sermon, which was actually not a sermon but a "learning Shabbat" service, where the rabbi explained the V'shamru prayer that we sing. He examined the source of the prayer and the difference in the commandment from Exodus and Deuteronomy, which I actually never noticed before. The original reason for Shabbat observance is because G-d rested on the seventh day, but in Deuteronomy it says we should keep the Sabbath because G-d took us out of Egypt! Oh the tricky intricacies of Torah :)

Um ...

When Christianity and Scientology meet: Click Here.

It looks like this is happening in low income areas. Is this surprising? No, it isn't. I'm not going to lie. In my world, Scientology is a parasitic "faith." In my mind, it's like Mormonism. I'm not going to deny that it is any different in its efforts for proselytizing than is Evangelical Christianity or deeply religious Jewish groups, but Scientology and Mormonism are very, very persistent and insistent on finding converts.

(Rev. Charles) Kennedy knew that before he could introduce any Scientology-related text to his congregation, he would have to prove that it did not contradict his Christian beliefs. And so, he found Scripture to match each of the 21 principles (in "The Way to Happiness" -- Hubbard's 64-page, self-described "common sense guide to better living").

Weird, non?

Interlude: A non-Jewish related post.

So this post has nothing to do with Judaism. Every now and again I diverge, and you know, that's cool and stuff. So I'd like to share a few words about Halloween.

I haven't liked Halloween in a long, LONG time. I mean, when I was a kid I loved it. I remember fondly the years in Joplin dressing up as Miss America and a cat and other novelties of the 80s and early 90s. I also remember that Halloween was fun at my dad's job ... (a building materials store) ... where each department would put together a fancy little pumpkin person with items from their department. Every year we'd peruse the store and check out the pumpkin people. It was so rad, and my mom took pictures every year. Those were the days. When it was good, hometown Halloween.

But now? It's girls dressed as slutty (insert profession here). Slutty doctor, slutty firefighter, slutty little red riding hood, etc. etc. etc. When did people decide Halloween was less about fun and more about getting laid? Isn't that what the revelry of Mardi Gras or St. Patrick's Day is for? I applaud the couple over the weekend dressed like J.D. and Eliot. Or the girl I saw tonight dressed like a gigantic container of popcorn.

Another thing that irks me is the people who don't dress their kids up but go door to door asking for candy. What the hell? That defeats the purpose of the fun having. Then there's the high schoolers who don't put a seconds thought to a costume but go around picking up candy anyhow. UGH! Have some respect.

And finally ... it sort of amazes me that people go trick-or-treating door-to-door in the city. I mean, I did it all the time as a kid living in a suburban setting, but in the city? With apartments and more violence and ... other things. How strange, but there were SO many kids out tonight. Mazel tov to them.

Happy All Hallows, ya'll. I hope you got some candy ...

Hayyai Sarah: A deeper look!

First off, mad props to Blogger for finally setting up the blog-o-sphere so that comments can be tracked (I was really bad about going back to places I'd left comments to see if there was a response, not to mention that CoComment did weird things to my browser, so I got rid of it).

Secondly, I seem to have this weird problem. There's another Jewish woman in my office. I'm nearly positive she's Orthodox, though I'm pretty sure she's Modern Orthodox. The problem is that we never talk. I mean, we should have things to talk about, right? I don't mind saying "Yo! I'm Jewish!" to other people, but for some reason, things are not as easy with this gal. We were both in the copy room today for like 10 minutes together and nothing beyond "How are you?" "Fine, and you?" "Fine, thanks" was said. How awkward ... anyone have any icebreakers for Jews?

Thirdly, and most importantly, I find myself reading Torah very differently than I did even a year ago. This week's Torah portion is Hayyai Sarah, which is one I recognized immediately. It's the portion where Sarah dies, she's buried, and Abraham sends his servant out to find Isaac a wife and he comes back with Rebekah and then Abraham dies and is buried with Sarah. It's pretty basic and there isn't a whole lot of depth to the portion -- but I gather that this is because several things I might question (the oath by genitalia, love after marriage, the discrepancy in the storytelling in each version) I questioned last year in my blog and thus answered. I also find that I question things differently; I ask questions in the style of the sages in Talmud! I think this is a reflection of reading Rashi's Daughters, as the amount of commentary and discussion that takes place is too much to count! I say this because the questions I derived from my Torah study this evening were not answered in my chumash, like many of the basic question's answers are. Thus, these provide more room for exploration, which makes me wish I were a Talmud chacham. I find myself exceedingly jealous of the children raised Jewish with Talmud learning and especially Rashi's daughters, who were so learned ... jealousy!

My queries on Hayyai Sarah:

• At the beginning of the portion, how did Abraham choose the land to buy in which to bury Sarah on? He very quickly and explicitly chose the cave on the land of Ephron, but what was the significance of the spot? We know that the purpose of buying the land was to establish residency so he would no longer be a stranger in the land, and also because he knew that the land would someday be theirs, as given by G-d ... so establishing a sense of ownership was important. But why the cave on the land of Ephron? What was special about this space?
• In Gen. 23:10, did Abraham inadvertently violate the law that says one may not approach the land owner directly, but must first deal with the "people of the land"? I ask this because when Sarah dies and Abraham is talking to the Hittites about needing to procure land, he says he wants the cave on the land of Ephron. Without knowing it, Ephron is in the crowd and responds to Abraham. However, this violates the law I guess. But what are the repercussions? If any? (There were none in the Torah, of course, but I'm speaking about the "what if" here.)
• How much land was there with the cave in the deal Ephron made? It was a 400-shekel deal, but there was no speculation in my chumash about the size of the land. It also didn't discuss what the land was used for. Was it worked by the Hittites? Was it barren? If there's all this land with a cave amid the community, wouldn't it be used for something?
• In Gen. 24:16, and throughout the story of the servant and Rebekah, there is a discrepancy of the well versus the spring. I imagine the two words could be interchangeable, as a spring is a source of water from the ground and a well is a hole dug to create a water source. But in this verse it says that Rebekah "came up" from the spring ... would one have to "come up" from a well? Maybe I'm not familiar with biblical well-going, but that seems awkward. I suppose it could be chocked up to different authors or translations?

So that's my Torah babble for this week. Stay tuned ...

A productive, thoughtful Shabbat!

Although Shabbat quickly draws to a close ... I wanted to toss out something I just read in "To Life!: Prayers and Blessings for the Jewish Home" by Rabbi Michael Shire, which I just bought off the sale table at the local Borders.

Shabbat ... is the mainstay of Jewish family life, offering a weekly respite from work, and a time to be rather than to have. Ahad Ha'am, the famous nineteenth-century Jewish esasyist, poignantly remarked: 'More than Israel has kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept Israel.'

I think what I like most about this is the "a time to be rather than to have." This is the essence of Shabbat, and it would appear that this Shabbat has been most insightful for me. Not only did I fill up three pages of my notebook on notes/thoughts/commentary on this week's Torah portion (Va Yera), but I also did some reading in Isaac ben Abraham of Troki's "The Strengthening of Faith" (Chizzuk Emunah), which basically defends Judaism and sort of goes point by point (and citation by citation) as to why the Christian disputation of Judaism is wrong, wrong, wrong! It was a productive afternoon, by golly. I'll likely post my Shabbat comments tomorrow (a little late, but better later than never!), as I"ll be heading out for the night shortly.

On another note: Going to Borders is so dangerous for me ... I went with the express purpose of buying a workout DVD (which I bought) but then also picked up Ani Difranco's "Canon" (eeep!), not to mention "To Life!" I also collected two or three other books on a list to add to my Amazon Wish List, including:

• The Bible: Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Solomon; Illustrated by Marc Chagall (Talk about THE coolest thing ever ...)
  
• The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman (the illustrator of the Elements of Style!)
• Being Jewish by Ari Goldman (This was out with all the Chanukah stuff, and made me think ... Chanukah!? ALREADY!?)

Feel free to get me anything you deem necessary ;)

Blogs and books.

Talk about the big leagues! At least it feels like it. The JewsbyChoice group blog got a mention on Jewlicious.com the other day, and that, to me, feels like a big deal. I've been getting e-mails from readers with questions and comments, and the conversations on blog posts have been incredibly active. The website has come alive, and I couldn't be more happy to be a part of such an undertaking.

On another note, I just finished reading the first of the Rashi's Daughters series by Maggie Anton. The book (about the eldest daughter, Joheved) seems torn between being a historical text and a love story. I, myself, am particularly drawn to the Talmud commentary and discussions about Torah and ritual. The love story aspect of it is interesting enough, but seems almost forced. There are portions of the book that read as fluid as warm honey and others that dry up as quick as rain in July (fun comparisons, no?!). I often gush over Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent," which is based more on fiction than on fact, considering the historical nature of it. Rashi and his daughters are a little bit more present, of course, but the facts and historical documents aren't as prevalent as documents from even 300 or 400 years ago were (think Gluckel of Hameln!). Likewise, the insertions of "oui" and "mon cherie" into the otherwise English and Hebrew tests grates on my nerves of consistency and plausibility. It reminds me of Dora the Explorer or Passions (the former NBC soap opera), where every now and again one of the Latino family members will toss in a "gracias" or "dios mio" or some other recognizable Spanish phrase, just so we can remember that they're Latino. At the same time, I recognize that the book could be in French, it could be in Hebrew. It could be in English, and it is. I wish I knew French as well as I once did, so I could read the book in French -- perhaps the language it should be entirely written in! But I will pick up the second book (based on the next youngest daughter, Miriam) with wide eyes and a hopeful disposition. The historicity of the books, including the details about the way things are made or performed, is enough to keep even the greatest romance-loathing bookworm like me interested!

Note: I finally got internet at home, so expect some more in-depth Jew-related blogging in the near future!

The Weekly Potpourri.

Tonight I'm heading to shul for a special event about living as an Israeli, which I hope provides me some insight and something to blog about, perhaps. Not that I'm short of things to blog about, of course. After all, I recently blogged over at the JewsbyChoice.org blog with a little parshah commentary.

I'm finding that I waste a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing, and after picking up my copy of "The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living," which I pick up just about every year and never get past the first few weeks, I realized that I need to pay more attention to the time I'm wasting. Telushkin, in the first-day comments for Week 3, notes the importance of keeping track of the time wasted, when you could be devoting that time to Torah study. He tells of a time when he was in yeshiveh when he kept a notebook with him at all times, keeping tallies on what he was doing and when. He shone with pride the day he spent more than 10 hours studying (among shul, etc.). On the train ride in this morning, I sat, doing nothing. Just riding. I realized my wasted time and got out my book, "Rashi's Daughters: Joheved." Although it isn't Talmud or Torah, it surely is a book in the realm of study. The amount of Midrash and Talmud talk could probably be considered a day's work (for the ladies anyhow).

I also picked back up my Intro to Hebrew Bible text last night, and began re-reading the text I haven't looked at since I took the course several years ago.

It's obvious that my thirst for knowledge and academics is overflowing. Frasier couldn't satisfy me last night, but these books could. I'm trying to make an effort to fill my day with learning. Fulfilling learning. I can't remember the exact quote that Telushkin uses, but he talks about a man who on his deathbed realizes all the time he wasted in his life. He says something along the lines of, it's easy to realize that you are wasting your life in the beginning, it just hurts more in the end. Something along those lines. In sum: Don't wait till the end to say "oops, wasted that there life I had doing a whole lotta nothing."

So that's what I'm doing. Fill it up with books, fill it up with literature. Fill it up with the things that spark your mind to thirst for more, so that you might never be empty.

Some updates.

So here I am. I am alive! My first post on Jewsbychoice.org got a lot of responses, and I thank everyone who had kind words to say and personal stories to offer. The world is such a big place full of Jews here there and everywhere, and it's nice to at least make connections in the ways that we can.

And now the new stuff: I've moved.

I guess that's the only major change in my life, but it's an important change. I'm waiting to get my Internet set up at home (cheap-o AT&T!), and until them I'm lurking in coffee shops and the library around the corner. The moment I get Internet, I'm going to focus on two graduate school applications: University of Connecticut and University of Michigan, the latter which I was accepted to last year but neglected to defer (life changes quickly). Why, you ask, must I wait till I have web at home? Being out and about, there's a lot of distractions. People, drinks, things and stuff. In the comfort of my own home, I can spread out on my vintage table and really dig in to the applications and the essays.

Yes, I had spent a long time planning on doing Hebrew College online for graduate school, but what it comes down to is that I just flat don't want to. If I'm going to school, I'm going to school. I'm sitting in a classroom and raising my hand and harassing professors during office hours and really getting in the face time to make people say "damn, she'll do great things one day."

This means that when (or if) I get in, I'll be moving -- again. This time, elsewhere, and I'm completely stoked about it. I love Chicago, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. I've been here briefly, but you gotta do what you gotta do (cliche, cliche, cliche!).

So there's that. In addition to school and moving, I'm also a lot closer to my synagogue. This means going to Saturday morning Torah study (G-d willing!) and also to the Adult Ed classes on the weekend and the Tuesday night Jewish movie at temple, too. Talk about stoked. If I'm going to fill up my time, it better be with all the Jewish things that make my world go 'round.

So the world keeps spinning and I'm hopefully moving closer to goals of personal fulfillment. I'm 24 years old now, and it seems like everyone back in Nebraska who I knew in high school is married, and if not married, then engaged. I have a hard time with this because I'm only 24, it doesn't seem like there's a huge rush, but it's stressful. I'm not one to set myself up to those around me, but it's like watching your friends fall in combat (extreme comparison, but you can sense the idea of loneliness). It's definitely Midwestern ideology, but that's how it goes I guess. But I'm going to try to get everything else in order before I start REALLY wondering "when?"

In unrelated news, I picked up Maggie Anton's first book in the Rashi's Daughters series, this one about Jochaved. It's definitely a far cry from the fluid storytelling of Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent," but I can still appreciate the years and years of research and work that went into Anton's efforts. It feels forced at times (it's as much an entertaining read as it is a historical approach that attempts to educate the readers about Middle Ages Jewry and Jewish customs), such as when explaining certain aspects of Jewish life. But how does one really casually explain certain customs and practices of Jewry without feeling forced anyhow? Maggie Anton is speaking here at a congregant's house at the beginning of November, and I'm pretty stoked. If anything, it'll be interesting to see how she traced the genealogy and compacted all of the history and customs into the texts.

Ann Coulter strikes again!

In my humble opinion, I think Ann Coulter is probably the worst thing to happen to women, and perhaps to punditry (after folks like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, etc.). I take anything and everything she says with, well, not even a grain of salt. It's like reading the tabloids or staring through a window at a white wall. But it's also like a trainwreck -- sometimes you just have to look. Curiosity is piqued, and you want to know "who are you, and when are the aliens coming to take you home?" On that note, I'd like everyone to head over to PerezHilton.com to this little gem of a transcript from Ms. Coulter's recent interview on CNBC with Donny Deutsch, who just so happens to be Jewish. She basically says that Jews need to be "perfected" and that Christianity is the one true way because they follow the laws and that the Jews lose because G-d was always pissed because we couldn't figure out how to follow all the laws, thus making Christians G-d's favorite child and the Jews those folks who just haven't figured it out yet!

Among the gems of the article are the following:

COULTER: No, it’s true. I give all of these speeches at megachurches across America, and the one thing that’s really striking about it is how utterly, completely diverse they are, and completely unself-consciously. You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it’s like they have a chip on their shoulder. They’re just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And —

DEUTSCH: I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don’t see any more or less chips there either way. That’s erroneous.

COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire “Seinfeld” episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you’re lying.

DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some “Seinfeld” episode? OK.

Obviously she digs Seinfeld; maybe her and Jerry should sit down and have a heart to heart about perfecting themselves?

COULTER: No. I’m sorry. It is not intended to be. I don’t think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe — this is just a statement of what the New Testament is — is that that’s why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don’t believe our testament.

COULTER: No, no, no, no, no. I don’t want you being offended by this. This is what Christians consider themselves, because our testament is the continuation of your testament. You know that. So we think Jews go to heaven. I mean (Jerry) Falwell himself said that, but you have to follow laws. Ours is “Christ died for our sins.” We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian is not offensive at all.

Let it be noted: This woman is a babbling moron.

West Bank Story!? OMG!

I have stumbled upon perhaps the greatest short film ever made. Yes, the greatest short film ever made. Not only did "West Bank Story" win an Academy Award ... but come on ... it's a musical about competing falafel stands in the West Bank. How could it NOT be the greatest short film ever? Cheers to Ari Sandel for winning Best Live Action Short Film!

Here's the trailer:


Here's the first 4 minutes of musical bliss!:

Change is a comin'!

So there is a lot I really should talk about, among them being the fact that I'm moving on Tuesday across town to a nice neighborhood called Buena Park. Also among them being that I spoke on the phone today with the head of a certain Judaic studies department in the Northeast about my possible future at their school. Things are changing, so quickly!

But I wanted to write a quick note to let everyone know that I'm part of this amazing project/website, JewsbyChoice.org, which is meant to be an ultimate resource for Jews in Training, Jews Returning and everyone in between. So please, PLEASE check it out. I just posted a piece over there about my name and how it affects me as a Jew. I've been wanting to blog about it for months now, but I was saving it for the JBC website. So please give it a read and comment away if your heart moves you to do so.

Look out for a full-fledged future talk, which should come soon friends. Stay tuned!

The Ultimate Goal.

"I have set God before me at all times" (Psalms 16:8)

The Year ends, The Year begins.

So I've changed my little book tally on the right sidebar there to now list Books Read in 5768, as it's a brand spanking new year and I just finished my first book of the year. I've been a little slow on the reading, despite having oodles of time on the commute. I haven't been quite as awake as I'd like lately, and the buses have grown crowded with teenagers heading to school. It just isn't as cozy as I'd like. On that note, I present to you the books (that I could remember) read in 5767:

• The Chosen by Chaim Potok
• The World to Come by Dara Horn
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
• My Holocaust by Tova Reich
• Mara by Tova Reich
• Women and Jewish Law by Rachel Biale
• Turbulent Souls by Stephen Dubner
• Rashi by Maurice Liber and Adele Szold
• Neighbors by Jan Gross
• Among the Righteous by Robert Satloff
• Fabulous Small Jews by Joseph Epstein
• Lipshitz 6 or Two Angry Blondes by T. Cooper
• Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
• The Messiah of Stockholm by Cynthia Ozick
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Of those, I'd have to say "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "The Ladies Auxiliary," "The World to Come" and "The Chosen" were my top picks. "The Kite Runner" would be on that list had it not turned into a Schwarzenegger action film in the last portion of the story.

So feel free to pick up any of these books. They all rock, really. I wouldn't have read them if they didn't! Now on to more books for this year ...

More on the new Reform siddur.

I'm not sure if this came out before, or if this is new stuff. An article came out a week or two ago about a controversial prayer that was re-added to the new Reform siddur, which I wrote about here a month ago. The new prayer book -- Mishkan T'filah -- is expected to be out and about pretty quick here. The ins and outs of the new siddur can be found on the URJ website here.

But the reason we're here -- the restoration of a controversial prayer! Way back when, when Judaism was splitting all over the place, one of the great diverting theologies was over the idea of the resurrection of the dead. This goes back to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, with the former supporting resurrection theology and the latter rejecting it for not being explicitly mentioned in Torah. The idea of resurrection even appears in Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith. "Traditional" Jews still very much support the idea of resurrection, which foresees that at the coming of the messiah (since the Jewish messiah has yet to come), the righteous will be resurrected to enjoy the fruits of their righteous efforts.

There are some within Judaism who consider this theology to span to the idea of reincarnation of the soul, continuing on the work that was promised at Sinai in an effort to perpetuate and satisfy tikkun olam. These stories and ideas are largely held within Chasidic sects, and interestingly this idea is most definitely apparent in Chaim Potok's "My Name is Asher Lev" when Asher begins to question whether his divergence from the family trade is somehow harming the soul traveling from generation to generation within his family (as he's tormented by his great ancestor in his dreams).

But what does this all mean for Reform Judaism? In 1885, the Pittsburgh Platform explicitly DENIED bodily resurrection, as it seemed irrational and contrary to logic. Then there's this:

In prior Reform prayer books, the traditional blessing of God as the one who revives the dead — in Hebrew, “m’chayeih hameitim” — was changed to “m’chayeih hakol,” literally “who gives life to all.” The new prayer book includes the modified version, but also offers worshipers the ancient formulation as an alternative.

And more than 120 years later, here we are.

The new siddur, as I mentioned, is completely about inclusiveness. It's shooting at the whole body of Reform folks -- religious, non-religious, secular, non-Jewish spouses, etc. So by including the revamped version and the historically "traditional" version, the authors are hoping to pique the interest of curious parties and perhaps those who are aiming to be more traditional.

If anything, the inclusion of the traditional prayer and perhaps some accompanying gleanings can offer the reader -- religious or not -- a perspective of constant restoration of the self and of the soul. On Yom Kippur we're restored, no? The article has some interesting takes on the importance of the prayer, resurrection and messiah theology. Read it!

I'm really excited for the new prayerbook (though my opinions of resurrection theology are undeveloped, at best), because I've grown weary of the constant "return to tradition" that includes nothing more than a little more Hebrew in the service. I'm hoping this book will offer some truly more traditional takes on Judaism that hold to the tenets of a progressive Judaism, while also maintaining the roots and history and meaning of the thousands of years of Jewishness that preceded us.

In my eternal struggle to place myself on the spectrum of Judaism, I'm looking at the new prayerbook positively and hoping it'll keep me excited and searching.

Potpourri.

Birthday funnel cake!


Yesterday Ian and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo -- probably the best zoo I've been to second only to the Omaha Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska (I've been to Denver, Springfield, Tulsa, Kansas City, Washington D.C., etc.) -- for my birthday. And the Lincoln Park Zoo is FREE. Yes, it is FREE, folks. Not a penny is put out when you walk into one of the many wide-open entrances. It was clean, the animals were aplenty and lively, it was just beautiful. Here are a few photos of my favorite exhibits at just about every zoo: meerkatz and gorillas.

Then there was this guy, a red panda, that completely posed for me; it was beautiful!

Then we went up to Northwestern to this little peninsula with a beautiful view of the downtown skyline, not to mention some snazzy rocks that are decorated with proposals and other happy things and lots of boats.
For more fun photos of my zoo and Evanston adventures ... visit my Flickr!

Today (my actual birthday) wasn't so much fun. Lots of things swirling about resulted in me sleeping much of the day and only really enjoying the day long enough to hit up Wildfire for some dinner, which was wonderful; the joint makes me feel like I'm in the 1940s and should be wearing a snazzy cocktail dress. Ian made the weekend truly great for me, and for that I thank you.

So here's to possible massive changes in the near future. Cheers to all!