Indecision and Intermarriage: A Magic Carpet Tale
How do you create a wedding ceremony without a rabbi that honors your heritage when you’re not getting married to a Jew?
Category: Being Jewish
My House of Cards
As the holiday season nears its end, I analyze the cards that adorn my pantry door.
HaBaitah For The Holidays
Christmas is not a big holiday for most Jews. But for converts to Judaism, Christmas often means a trip home for a porkless reunion with the mishpacha.
Being Esther in a Sarah/Jennifer/Katie World
Daci Platt shares her experience growing up with an unusual name.
The December Dilemma For Interfaith Familes
Almost everyone in our community is touched in some way by interfaith marriage. A panel discussion at Adath helps those families find support from each other.
Ritual Tattoos: Keeping History Alive
How do we remember and honor those lives? How do those of us without a number to tattoo, or those of us disagree with tattooing continue to remember?
Minneapolis Jew to Know: Cara Levin
I thought I was familiar with the Minneapolis Jewish community… until I heard about Cara Levin.
Dybbuks, Golems and “The Possession”: A New Look at Jewish Exorcism
Seeing “The Possession” in the movie theater this week made me realize that exorcism wasn’t started by Catholics.
Somewhere to Go: My Jewish Grandfather’s Journey
He was eighteen when his family heard he would be drafted. He would be stuck in freezing barracks, getting up every day at the crack of dawn.
New Jew in Town: Jewish Geography Should be an Olympic Sport
Everyone has a favorite Jewish geography story. Mine takes place in Paris in the summer of 2005.
When You Haven’t Got a Prayer—Make One
What I love about the ancient prayers is they’ve been recited and chanted for generations. What I don’t like about the prayers is they’ve been recited and changed for generations. Who knows what we are saying, anyway?
Who Needs a Minyan? Let Me Count the Days
Trying to get to minyan was so hard, I just had to write a play about it.
Somewhere in the Light: A Father-Daughter Dance for Hanukkah
By the year 2050, Minnesota’s cases of Alzheimer’s are expected to grow to 200,000. Those who have it may be us. I would like us to see them, though we mostly ignore them. I would like us to see them differently. Maybe Hanukkah is a good way to start.
Why Jew Go Hunting II: Lawyers, Guns, and Schmaltz
This Jew makes his return to Heron Lake in search of a duck asking to be blasted out of the sky.
Sukkah Delicious
There is something about a circle of close friends that makes you taller, more beautiful and stronger.You can be who you are, and all you have to do is walk in the door and fit like a puzzle piece into a world you own.
New-Life Old-Life New Year
She stares at me, wondering why I don’t wear a scarf like her mom. Am I married? Of course I imagine this; we haven’t said a word.
Crooked Lines on the Ninth of Av
I’m seeing a 1930s movie star, someone snarly like Bette Davis, saying “God has nothing to with it,” in the middle of a party on Park Avenue. How would she have written the book of Lamentations? I see her laughing when I ask.
Week Out of Time: Shavuot
“Look at your hands,” John says to me one night, when I am sobbing that “I think we may really be alone down here.”
“Look how cool they are,” he says. “Who else could do that but God?”
Yom Ha’atzmaut: an Independence to Celebrate
He is holding his mother’s hand as they get out of the car, but his head swivels to catch sight of the protesters in front of him. As he approaches the door, they scream “Zionist pigs!” with little thought as to how this might be affecting him.
In Joshua’s Shoes: This Year in Jerusalem
Every year we end our Seder with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem”. This year I was in Jerusalem and it was a great way to experience Passover.
Not My Uncle’s Seder
Watching Josh that evening, I finally understood the saying about all of us escaping from Egypt every time the story is told. Because very likely we are all trying to escape.
