Category: religiousness
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A 2-year-old’s perspective on Tisha B’Av
“Did you make this Beit HaMikdash today?” “Yeah.” “Is it burning, is there so much fire?” “Yeah… …fireman come… put water… pssssshhhhhhhhh…” Perhaps my 2-year-old has more wisdom about the Messiah than any of us could dream of, or she has a vast knowledge of history and the fire fighting capabilities of warring nations, but really, […]
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Fifty-Two Frames: Holy
It’s a holy week of sorts. The beginning of the 9 days. Ramadan. Jews fighting Jews at the kotel. Sounds pretty holy to me. Week 27: Holy/Sacred It’s actually quite easy to appreciate how man can stare up at the sun and decide it’s worthy of worship.
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Fifty-Two Frames: Portrait
The one day my son did not wear his beloved black kippa to kindergarten was the one day I needed to take a portrait shot for Fifty-Two Frames. Divine intervention? Since living in Israel, never has it been more trendy to debate religious practice, engage or disengage from extremism, ritually cross-dress, or hate people you […]
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Getting your feet (ritually) wet: An American-Israeli’s mikvah story
Perhaps, for a taharat-mishpacha-keeping American-Israeli olah (female American immigrant to Israel who keeps laws of family purity), nothing else can quite epitomize the cultural differences of here and there better than… the mikvah. Because I got married in Israel, my mikva knowledge and experiences have been molded here. The closest I got in the States before […]
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On Jews, Jerusalem, Women and Walls
Note: Reflections based on my rare February and March 2013 trips to the Kotel. Based on today’s news, I figured today’s as good as any to post. I’ve been to the Kotel, the Western Wall, way too many times in the past year. Previously, I had a comfortable average of maybe once every two or […]
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Religion and kids and Israel and me.
I can’t really blame the ganenot (my kids’ teachers). It’s not their fault it all looks so terribly confusing.
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Story of Passover (child labor edition)
It’s ok to help mother with cleaning for Passover. It might not be ok for her to involve the children in sanitizing her toxic home office. Also, the first time a child discovers a vacuum cleaner is super fun. Me: How do you say vacuum b’ivrit? Him: Maybe ‘vachuum’ (וחיום)?
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We thought we saw it all, Bnei Brak. Then you do this.
Kashrut enthusiasts! Kosher-keeping container collectors, gather round! You’ve seen the blue Dairy stickers… You’ve used the red Meat stickers… You’ve stuck on green Pareve stickers… You’ve dusted off the purple Passover stickers… And now, for a limited time only, you have the stunning option of adorning your most chametzidik dishware with the one, the only… …’Sold […]
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Tree lover.
My lil tree hugger on Tu B’Shvat eve.
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8 things I’ve already learned this Chanukah
It’s only the fourth night and I can point to eight things I’ve learned this Chanukah: Chanukah is really really really hard with comprehending kids and not much/no family around. Watching your other immigrant friends run around to local family parties with parents, in-laws, siblings, etc. is tough. Giving out-of-the-blue presents to a small child […]
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Little Midrash, Lizrael style.
“Do you know what this week’s parsha is? Lech Lecha. Basically… Avraham Avinu, do you know who that is? No? So… he was the first Jew. He had the first brit milah. Do you know what that is? Well. You had one… All yehudim with a penis have one. So all boys who are yehudim […]
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Not so fast: Tzur Hadassah mikvah update
About a month ago, we took a walk to where the currently-malfunctioning mikvah stands in Tzur Hadassah. Apparently, ‘they’ have found donors/money to get it functional, (I understand the malfunction is a plumbing issue) and it seems the rest of the area is getting prepped as well. The road leading to it from next to […]