by danya | Apr 17, 2007 | Blog
Much love and comfort to everyone impacted by the shooting in Virginia yesterday. What is wrong with America? Really. These shootings–and their frequency over the years–are not the sign of a healthy society. I remember that Julie Brown song, “The...
by danya | Apr 15, 2007 | Blog
Ynet reports, A third of Holocaust survivors living in Israel are poor, the Holocaust Survivors’ Welfare Fund reported this week. According to the fund, some 80,000 of the 260,000 survivors in the country live under the poverty line. In addition to their grim...
by danya | Apr 15, 2007 | Blog
Dear God, We stopped praying for rain almost two weeks ago. Love, adoration and worship as always, D.
by danya | Apr 13, 2007 | Blog
I’ve started getting into book revisions this week, and it’s an interesting process. Given that I worked as a freelance writer before rabbinical school, I’ve had the chance to be edited a lot. It can be challenging when the editor and I have...
by danya | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
I asked the greengrocer how much longer artichoke season was, and he said, “Another week or two. Well, longer, but they won’t be as tasty as these.” I knew it. I knew it, the moment the words came out of his mouth, that “these” was...
by danya | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
This is a very interesting piece in the Washington Post about a lot of things, including paying attention, what it’s like to encounter a masterpiece without a didactic label on the wall or enthusiastic blurbs on the dust jacket, and the importance of tipping...
by danya | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
My friend Bear Bergman has brought my attention to a rather interesting poem by Qalonymos ben Qalonymos – a Hebrew writer and translator living in Spain, ca. 1322. I offer no commentary of my own, but rather leave that job to you. Translation by (I think) Tova...
by danya | Apr 1, 2007 | Blog
Like a lot of Yidden today, I’m tearing through my kitchen in a hot streak. I have the great fortune of not being responsible for any early Pesach cooking, so it’s just about cleaning, wiping, re-arranging, kashering (boiling certain utensils so that...
by danya | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
My pre-Pesach cultural/theological preparation this week includes watching The Last Temptation of Christ. I haven’t seen it in about 10-12 years, though it was actually pretty important for me in college. That’s a whole other story. My goodness, what an...
by danya | Mar 29, 2007 | Blog
For the last year and a half or so, I’ve been meeting some friends once a month for Kiddush Levanah, the sanctification of the new moon. It’s great fun–we meet late Shabbat afternoon not long after the month has begun, do a little learning, and once...
