After the Bomb Threat

"But we didn't DO anything to them!" Her deep blue eyes beg me to make sense of this for her, to bring order to the chaos.  The problem is, there are some things in this world that just don't make logical sense, at least not in my very human mind. Hate is one of them. …

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Of Jews and Dogs

His big brown eyes look up at mine with perfect trust and loyalty.  He's a comfort to me whenever I'm sick, his big furry body cuddled against mine as he tries to protect me and help me feel better.  I never fear intruders because I know they'll prefer a house that doesn't have him waiting …

Finding the Good…in Pneumonia

I've been down for the count, punched out by pneumonia.  I've been sleeping a lot, having trouble breathing, missing out on family activities and work.  It would be easy to get down when I'm as sick as I've been.  It would be tempting to blame this kind of sickness on random chance, seeing it as …

Separation

I pinch off a piece of dough, separating that which is a sacrifice, holy, from that which is allowed to me.  Likewise, my kitchen is carefully arranged to keep meat and dairy separate.  A barrier separates men from women in the Synagogue.  Judaism is a religion of carefully, intentionally categorizing and separating things. Wool from …

Kneading In Blessings

It is almost Friday. All around the world, that means that women are baking challah for the Sabbath. For many, it's easier to bake it on Thursday, leaving the bulk of the cooking time on Friday, the oven unoccupied. Or, they're on the other side of the globe, in Israel, where the Sabbath starts soon. …

Do and Be

"Think about it." "Come on, be rational." "You need to think this through first." "USE YOUR HEAD!" "Don't lose your head." "It's all in your head." No. For most of my life, I've digested the world to pieces in my mind. Ruminating thoughts, chewing them in my safe pasture, safely watching the world through the …

It’s Not About the Head

I'm a thinker by nature, much more comfortable tackling obstacles with my mind.  If I'm not careful, I can live completely there in my head, crunching numbers, unraveling meaning, connecting concepts.  It's where I retreat to in order to feel safe. When I first approached conversion, it was completely from my mind.  I created reading …

The Day I Became “Other”

I'd experienced passive antisemitism before, but this was different.  Suddenly, it wasn't so passive.  It sliced across a social media feed, cleaning cutting through friendships.  People I had thought were "good people" suddenly so filled with anger, with hate.  When I dared to speak my feelings, I was told that I was overreacting, that I'd …

The Marks Across My Heart

An artifact from my life before I'd ever met a Jew or knew anything of Judaism, I have tattoos.  Not just small, cute tattoos, no...we're talking tattoos that scrawl across empty spaces, for the most part hidden now beneath modest clothing, but always there, a reminder of a life I once lived. My first tattoo …

V Day

"I don't DO Valentine's Day." It wasn't the first time our cultural differences had butted heads, but it was the first time that I'd really felt such separation.  After all, our relationship was brand new and shiny and, according to popular culture, what he did on that fateful day was my best measurement of what this …

A Foot in Two Worlds

Everywhere I have lived, no matter which community I've belonged to, I've never quite fit fully in it.  I was a foreigner even in the place where I was born, asking too many questions and never quite fitting with even my own family.  I remember coming home after my first big trip outside the United …

Be Weak

"Be strong!" the world shouts, in so many ways, in so many words. "You need to fight for what's yours!  You need to go out and compete for what you want!  You need to prove yourself!  You need to show them you're equal!" Over and over again, from childhood through adulthood, voices from ads from …