My friend Susie asked me to recommend a \”goodhaggadah\” for her seder. Tell me first about your guests, I said. Arethere many children? Grandparents? Republicans? Buddhists? Today,selecting a haggadah is a form of Rorschach test, a unique,personalized snapshot of you in the here and now, never to beduplicated again.
My Passover seder was once again acclaimed by one and all as the best ever. Good thing, too, since, as befits a holiday filled with questions, anxiety had dogged my every step — right until the last moment.
In the aftermath of thedeaths of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, every woman I know hasparticipated in some version of \”The Goddess or the Saint.\” We\’vetaken sides, debated our husbands and boyfriends, our mothers, ourfriends. At Torah study last Saturday, we weighed the two women interms of a moral dilemma: The princess or the nun, the glamour or thegrit. Our choice of icons defines our lives.\n\n
Linda Deutsch and Theo Wilson liveda cross the street from each other for most of the past 21 years. They were trial reporters who met in the Charles Manson courtroom, competitors and best friends. On Jan. 17, Wilson called Deutsch four times while anxiously awaiting the limo that was to take her from her Hollywood Hills home to a CBS interview — the official start ofpromotion for her new book, \”Headline Justice,\” which had taken her 10 years to complete.
True story. Last week at the Westside Pavilion, just\noutside Nordstrom, six women, dressed in the garb of\nIslam, were standing by the mall\’s ATM. Four wore\ncolorful scarves, exposing the face and a bit of hair; two\nwere completely in black, with only small slits, 1 inch by\n4 inches, revealing huge, dark eyes. From a distance, the\nhuman form disguised, they looked like a gathering of\nwrens.
Where does a parent — a Jewish mother — begin a frank consideration of her daughter\’s sexuality?
Are seniors at Milken Community High School really \”Wildcats\” after all? Aaron Fishman, outgoing student body president, told me that earlier this year, students tried to change the school\’s sports mascot from the Wildcats to \”something more Jewish.\”\n
The restaurant billboard advertised its Father\’s Day brunch in letters too large to miss. \”If I had a father, we could take him out to eat,\” my daughter, Samantha, said, as we drove by.
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