In the last several months there have been some very disturbing stories about coaches and their abhorrent behaviors. It is hard to remember sometimes that there are a lot of good coaches out there that serve as role models for their players and the communities they serve. Read More »

Don’t fall out of your chair. I know. Two posts in two days. Amazing. After watching the SAG awards last night, I realized I have a lot to say about the movies that are in the running for these various awards. The Help is one of the best films of the year. I blogged about it after I saw it months ago. Read More »

It has been an insanely long time since I wrote a blog post, mostly because I have lots of ideas running through my mind and not enough time to actually write things down. School is occupying the majority of my time right now. In lieu of a formal graduate thesis for this program I am tasked with writing a curriculum guide. Read More »

The Jewish Book Council just released the 2011 winners and finalists in a myriad of categories for their prestigious award. If you are looking for something to read, you might want to start here . Mazal tov to all the authors, especially my Bible teacher, Dr. Read More »

Last night I read a fascinating article (posted by someone on Facebook) in The Atlantic about the school system in Finland. As you know, this year I am studying to earn a masters in Jewish education and am doing a lot of thinking about all different types of learning opportunities. This article struck a chord for many reasons. Read More »

It isn’t my favorite ice cream flavor, I’m a jamoca almond fudge girl. Nevertheless, I go to Baskin Robbins every year on your birthday and order a small cup of pralines ‘n cream because it was your favorite, GRANDMA. That’s right, every December 18 this is my ritual. Read More »

In a few minutes (around 12: 45pm ET), President of the United States, Barack Obama will address more than 6,000 Reform Jews at the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial convention. Unfortunately I am not there in person this time, so I will be watching like some of you. (Apparently this speech will also be on CNN). Read More »

Yesterday THE DIVA and I went to the mikveh. I suggested that we go to mark the first anniversary of MY MOM’s death and THE DIVA thought it would be good to do. I immersed in the mikveh one other time, just before my ordination. This was THE DIVA’S first immersion. Afterwards, I do not feel tremendously different. Read More »

The Central Conference of American Rabbis  released the first iPad app for the movement siddur (prayer book), Mishkan T’filah. The app is available on iTunes, follow this link . Right now, only the Friday night Kabbalah Shabbat service is available. More are coming, so they say. Read More »

Today is MY MOM’s yahrzeit . It was one year ago according to the Hebrew calendar that she died. Last night when I got home I lit the yahrzeit candle and opened a bottle of MY MOM’s favorite wine, Kendall Jackson chardonnay. It felt like the right way to remember her. Today I will go to services and say the Mourner’s Kaddish . Read More »

Tonight when I get home I will light a yartzeit candle to mark one year since MY MOM died. Tomorrow I will stand and say the Mourner’s Kaddish as I’ve done all year. What a ridiculous year it has been. Since I don’t feel like being too sad and emotional I will also let you know that it is also the end of NaBloPoMo. Thank goodness. Read More »

Benjamin Franklin said, “in this life nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” This post is dedicated to you, reader, because I know that there is no way to be immune from death. Ben Franklin said so. Today I would like to describe to you what MY DAD has called the piñata effect. After a death there are a lot of details. Read More »

With zero time in it for blogging. So today’s post is about how I don’t have time to write one. Hopefully tomorrow will be different.     . Read More »

Today was the first day of Kislev (MY GRANDMA’s yahrzeit). While the marketing blitz that is the holiday season begins after last week’s holiday in preparation for Christman, Chanukah and even Kwanzaa, there is another occasion looming large this week. The 5th of Kislev is also MY MOM’s yahrzeit. It has been quite the year to say the least. Read More »

I hope that you have a happy, meaningful and delicious Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be grateful for this year. Read More »

I am so glad to live in this country. As you might remember, I spent three years living abroad (that is an exotic way of saying that I lived in Canada). Read More »

There are few things worse than traveling this week. I am so excited to get to spend time with MY DAD, THE DIVA, my cousins, aunts and uncles (minus AS, DP, NJ, and EJ-S (who will be sorely missed)). I am not looking forward to heading towards the airport and dealing with the other people who are traveling. Read More »

There are a lot of people who complain about technology, I am not one of them. One of the many reasons I love it is because of the ability to communicate across the miles and be in touch in convenient, yet meaningful ways. Take for example my friend, LBN . She and I went to ‘deis together, though she was a couple of years behind me. Read More »

Do you like to read? I do. I come by it honestly, MY DAD loves to read. I was at home last weekend and MY DAD started a little project. He decided to collect all of the books he had around the house, in some cases hidden, that he planned to read. Read More »

The prompt for today from NaBloPoMO is too intense. I am just writing to say hi. I hope that I didn’t upset anyone with my somewhat aggressive rant. I None of you clearly take my ranting too seriously, or maybe you didn’t like the reward, since no one responded to either post. It is okay. Read More »