Hi Tammy, it’s me. I hope I’m not catching you at a bad moment. I have some big news. It means a lot to me to share it with you. Do you have a minute? You might need to catch your breath when I tell you this, and you should definitely be sitting down. OK,… Read more »
Brooklyn Pride was this past Saturday night. It was intermittently pouring, and both those of us watching and the soggy marchers got soaked and didn’t really care. I love the huge excitement of the big Pride Parade, which is weeks to come yet here in NYC, but I love Brooklyn Pride because it’s a lot,… Read more »
My name is Sarah Aronson and this is my first post on the Lilith blog. Thanks to Mel for inviting me! A quick bio: I am living the dream in Hanover, New Hampshire. I have two kids. I recently got married. We are an interfaith family. We drink coffee and eat more chocolate than the… Read more »
The general consensus on these questions appears to be Yes, women are taking over Judaism, and Yes, that is bad. But I’m having trouble working up concern over this supposedly dire state of affairs. A new study confirms these assertions social-scientifically, reports the Jewish Exponent, showing that among the most liberal strains of Judaism (Reform,… Read more »
Shavuot was never a big-deal holiday in my family—it was pretty much the Festival of the Cheese Blintz. It’s only been in more recent years that I’ve learned about the lovely theological bases for this celebration, and worked towards understanding the sublime joy of receiving the Torah. I received a number of great Shavuot-related press… Read more »
06/07/08 The bus sighs and coughs to a halt. I awake startled from sleep on the overnight bus from Bangkok to Mae Sot, Thailand. We’re stopped on the side of the road. It’s a thickened midnight despite my watch reading 5 a.m. A Thai police officer walks the aisles, holding his flashlight like a baton.… Read more »
One of the bands raising the temperature in Israel and making waves in America right now is Habanot Nechama, a group of three super-talented women, all of whom have careers in their own right, making beautiful music together. I was privileged to attend one of their recent American tour concerts, at the Highline Ballroom (up-and-comer… Read more »
I was at the Strand bookstore when I found a forty-eight-cent copy of The Feminine Mystique. I’ll shamefully admit that the selfsame title heads a list entitled “Mel’s Summer Gotta Read!” if for no other reason than damn, you’ve got to read it. How did I make it this far in my life without having… Read more »
Today is my thirtieth birthday, which falls out each year during the period in which it is traditional to learn Pirkei Avot, the tractate of the Mishnah that contains many ethical precepts and teachings relating to Jewish learning, among them the following: Age five is for learning Torah Age ten is for learning Mishnah Age… Read more »
As regular readers of this blog may know, I tend to take the news a little personally. So steam was pretty much coming out of my ears this past week, although I took great pleasure in the fact that the news cycle raising my blood pressure was a news cycle that might end up making… Read more »
