Hazon has numerous accomplishments to its name: perhaps more than any other organization, it is responsible for bringing an environmental consciousness to the American Jewish community, from promoting bicycling as a green mode of transportation to making us think about where the food we eat comes from. Read More »

Last week was D-Day in the War on Tu Bishvat.  This week, as the New Year of the Trees gets closer, it’s time to publicize who is in the right and who is still committed to being wrong.Here is Mah Rabu’s 5772 Tu Bishvat… Read More »

It’s less than three weeks away, and you’ve started getting emails about Tu Bishvat events. You’re probably also getting emails about Tu B’Shvat and Tu B’Shevat, whatever those are.  This blog has previously explained why “Tu Bishvat” is correct, while “Tu B’Shvat” and “Tu B’Shevat” are WRONG WRONG WRONG. Read More »

As noted previously on this blog, I always try to file my taxes by Rosh Chodesh Adar.  This year, that means sending in the return before the National Havurah Committee Chesapeake Retreat (February 17-19, 2012, Presidents’ Day weekend), which will be Read More »

In honor of Rosh Chodesh Tevet.  (You’ll see why!)Every Hebrew calendar geek knows the “ATBaSh” parlor trick, where if you know the day of the week of (almost) any Jewish holiday, you can quickly figure out the day of the week of (almost) any other holiday that year. Read More »

Q: Is Parshat Mikeitz ever not read during Chanukah?A: Yes, in 353- or 383-day years beginning on Shabbat. Read More »

Happy solstice festivals!  This year (as every year, but more so for some reason), a number of people have been asking this question: Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the date of the solstice? Indeed, the solstice this year is at 05: 30 UT (12: 30 am Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .) This past weekend, the great city of Washington DC played host to Mechon Hadar’s fourth (approximately sesquiannual) Minyan Conference . Unlike the previous conferences, this one wasn’t called the Independent Minyan Conference (at least not exclusively). Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .)Happy 5772! Another year, another blog post I don’t really want to write . But I’m writing it anyway, because who else will ? Criticizing the Reform movement on its own terms (as opposed to either not criticizing it, or judging it by external standards ) is a lonely beat . Read More »

This morning on the bus, I picked up a copy of the Washington Examiner (a free conservative local paper) that had been left on my seat.On page 2, there is an editorial saying that the “debt-ceiling debate” “misses the larger point”, because it doesn’t address the long-term debt. Read More »

In a democracy, the people are sovereign.  Our elected representatives work for us.  This org chart for the Ne York City government has it right:   the various city departments are underneath the deputy mayors, who are under the mayor, and at the very top of the chart, above the mayor, are “the voters of the City of New York”. Read More »

If you got here via the “Kiddushin Meets 21st-Century Egalitarianism” course, welcome!  Here are the links to Mah Rabu’s wedding series, all in one place: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 For everyone else:   This series of blog posts has been Read More »

Like many jurisdictions across the country, the District of Columbia is redistricting this year, to make sure its 8 wards continue to have roughly equal populations following the 2010 Census. Read More »

If you miss me in Connecticut, and you can’t find me nowhere… Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .) So the world didn’t end yesterday. To be fair, they weren’t actually predicting the end of the world until October 21, at the conclusion of five months of torment for those of us left behind. Yesterday was supposed to be only Judgment Day. But that didn’t happen either. Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .) In the District of Columbia, the highest income tax bracket begins at $40,000. You read that right: a person making $40,000/year and a person making $40,000,000/year are taxed at the same marginal rate. Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .) The article making the rounds this week is Rabbi Leon Morris’s oped in the JTA, “Reform Judaism must move beyond ‘personal choice’” . In past blog posts, I have both agreed and respectfully disagreed with Rabbi Morris; here I’m going to do the latter (from my usual perch as a Reform Jewish expat). Read More »

Baby Boomers are generally defined as people born between 1946 and 1964.  This graph illustrates the Baby Boom: As you can see, the Baby Boomer population more than doubled in a single year, from 1946 to 1947, and increased more than fivefold from 1946 to 1950. Read More »

(Crossposted to Jewschool .) On April 28, 2001 (Shabbat Tazria-Metzora), about 60 people crowded into an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to participate in a new egalitarian Shabbat morning minyan. Read More »

The question of 1-day vs. 2-day yom tov is a favorite topic here on Mah Rabu.  But while I have lots of posts addressing some of the more complex intricacies of this topic , I don’t have a general post explaining the basics.Until now.If you’re wondering what this is all about, check out my new post on rj. Read More »