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Personals

Why I returned to live in The Big Easy

I just have to read what I wrote one week after Katrina, or during that first year when I was living in exile in Baltimore, to churn up the emotion and passion that is life in New Orleans these days. It is precisely this intensity that keeps me here.

Combining fact and fiction confuses peace event

I was not entirely comforted. I recalled a conservative propaganda movie about Islam warning people of taqiyya, the Muslim \”mitzvah\” of deception, in which militant Muslims put on a peaceful disguise for Westerners.

Who was Moses? Oh wait, I think I know that one…

Stephen Prothero, author of the new book \”Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-And Doesn\’t\” and chair of the religion department at Boston University showed up on \”The Daily Show\” recently, hawking the fact that his book contains a quiz to test the reader\’s \”religious literacy.\” Which raises the questions: Can a 15-question quiz test religious literacy?

Farewell, my beloved Mom

Finally, I\’m grateful to the Almighty for having given me such a remarkable mother who, by example, taught her many offspring about the beauty of Judaism, how to lead meaningful lives and how important it is to do chesed for others. May her memory be a blessing.

Pledge to survivors — we will carry the torch

The responsibility for transmitting the survivors\’ legacy of remembrance into the future must now increasingly shift to us — their children and grandchildren.

Turn Memory Into Blessing

Holidays bring up feelings and memories about people who have died. They also offer opportunities to address unresolved issues. The four Yizkor services and the themes of their days correspond to different tasks of mourning.

Family Feud — with my family, it’s no game

I would take my mom against Clint Eastwood in any movie. Sure, he usually plays a grizzled, gunslinger with cat-like reflexes and something to prove, but if you cross my mother, you will find yourself, like the title of Clint\’s greatest Western, \”Unforgiven.\”

Mourning the Morning Call — back in New Orleans

I am a New Orleans Jew. The values of those identities fuel me like the smooth-yet-caffeinated drink that is the trademark of my hometown. I embrace the changing communal calendars and the rituals for their observances of joy and tragedy. These have taught me what it means to be human and how to extract eternity from the changing seasons.

A kiss on the hand may be so Continental, but diamonds aren’t forever anymore

When I turned 18 years old, my parents gave me a pair of diamond earrings. Later that same night at a comedy club, when a comedian on stage asked me what I got for my birthday, I showed him the diamonds.
\”You must be Jewish, right?\” he said.
I was — still am, as a matter of fact. But I didn\’t know yet about Jews and diamonds. I\’m not talking about the diamond industry, in which Israeli and Diaspora Jews are heavily involved, but in the purchase and wearing of diamonds.

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