I was about to inquire how they could manage to consistently laugh like fiends each time they saw Stu dress up like Latke Man, but stopped short upon realizing that they could easily turn the question back on me. You see, I\’m no stranger to repetition myself, having managed to spend Thanksgiving on Hilton Head Island every year since I was in first grade.
No disrespect to our mothers, but courtship rituals have changed since they were dating. So forget all their antiquated rules.
A book\’s opening chapter is crucial to setting the mood and aura for the remainder of the book\’s journey. Likewise, the opening scene of a film usually helps set the tone for what will ensue.
The Passover seder is both a reader\’s experience and a moviegoer\’s. We sit around the table and read the haggadah, and we also witness a host of rituals. But how does the seder leader creatively capture an audience and draw it into the experience from the beginning?
To me, skiing is almost a religious experience. When you\’re flying down the back bowls, sun on your face, cool air filling your lungs and a warm feeling filling your heart, it\’s like you can feel the hand of God.
After the high of the High Holidays, twice-a-year Jews hang up their kippot for another 354 days, or so, and in the process miss out on the lesser-known treat of Sukkot.
A few weeks ago, I was at a funeral at Mount Sinai in Glendale when, at one of the most emotional moments, a cell phone rang loudly for several minutes, humming a Broadway tune.
Ah, the High Holidays. The mere words conjure up memories of long services, uncomfortable clothing, endless Hebrew passages, Mom and Dad dozing off, semi-fasting against my will, and, most of all, not quite taking in what the holidays were all about. What can I say? I was a kid.
"Why is the festival of Shavuot called \’The time of the giving of our Torah\’ and not the time of the receiving of our Torah? Because the giving of the Torah happened at one specified time, but the receiving of the Torah happens at every time and in every generation. — Rabbi Meir Alter of Ger"
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At Jewish Family Service\’s Freedom Seder, participants read from a haggadah that was just a little bit different. Instead of reading of the four sons, those at the Freedom Seder read about the \”four community members.\”
\”The wise community member asks, \’How can we, as individuals, and a community, address domestic violence?\’\”
When friendly strangers find out I\’m a convert to Judaism, they want to know why.
And I\’ve learned to be ready.
I have two stories: One is
respectable, and one involves comic books and video games.
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