Selichot - A Moving Passage - One section of our services tonight (the Selichot services to start the reflections before Rosh Hashanah, the High Holy Days, also considered the New Year) touched me very poignantly, close to home, in my heart. I felt compelled to write it down and share it with you. (read more...)

The Balm of Music, Ceremonies, and Epiphanies - I had a nightmare, and conquered it with music--with Hebrew! *giggle* There's a couple of ceremonies coming up, in my friends' lives. And I ponder the nature of what matters to me, in relationships, and have an epiphany about one of my "non-negotiables." (read more...)

Returning Home Again - A little about food at Pennsic, how the itchies are lately, and looking forward to traveling to FL this weekend. (read more...)

Kosher, Weddings, and Things - So, hi. I'm still here. *waves* Let's see, some updates on relaxing the rules for myself about what is "kosher enough," based on health concerns. Three of the four weddings this summer had Jewish elements to them. And I've plans to be in another Hebrew class next month, and visit services with a friend in FL in 2+ weeks. (read more...)

The Yanov Torah, and Some New Found Security - I got to hold a Torah scroll that had been smuggled into a Nazi camp in Poland, smuggled out into Soviet-occupied Poland, and then smuggled into America. And then, I found that some things are either more invisible or actually easier to incorporate with some friends and family than I thought they were... which just means I'm feeling more secure about my Jewish identity than I'd previously been feeling. (read more...)

Thinking About Integration - It's time to head into a new phase: Finishing this conversion process. Yup, I wanna see the light at the end of the tunnel someday. (read more...)

Retreats, Food, and "Caught Between Dialects" - I spend a weekend retreat with my synagogue in December, have a small struggle with food and health (but I'm well now), read several good books and one annoying one, listen to lots of music, and ponder the nature of figuring out where I fit in this language acquistion. Oh, and my family rocks. (read more...)

More Music, Family, and Friends - The Really Good: I'm finding a ton of leads for more music (some I love, some I don't, but I won't exhaust the material for a while now). The Mostly Fantastic: All the Family and Friends I've admitted to that I'm converting have been supportive so far. The Unknown: My nerves are stretching, waiting for the shoe to drop (so to speak). Not everyone is going to be supportive, hence, I'm nervous. The Extremely Nerve-Wracking: I'm starting to reconnect with old college friends from a Christian student fellowship... Reconnecting on Facebook. The transparency for this process is increasing, as is my nervousness. (read more...)

Matchmaking - Some thoughts that came to me as I noticed a guy in a Starbucks reading and studying his Bible. The idea that I'm going to accidentally meet someone to date seems more and more far-fetched, and some days that's hard to take. (read more...)

The Bicycle Chain - In the course of listening to music this evening, I noticed some things about my relationship to music and language and life. And I think I have an elegant metaphor for what it feels like to have found Judaism for myself. (read more...)

Impulsive Music Hunches - Every now and then I hear a single song, and impulsively buy massive quantities of music by that artist. It's probably just a well-honed hunch, but often in a single song I can find that spark that says "wow, I LOVE this music." Recently, I'm *very* pleased to say that my hunch worked again. (read more...)

Unusual Assumptions - A lady at work suggested singing with me. Her suggestion? Let's walk around singing Christmas carols. Um, really? (read more...)

Updates and Updates - How I spent my High Holy days, and the family members I've actually told recently about my conversion process. Yup. I've started telling family. And it's been a good experience! (read more...)

Food, Philosophy, Language, and Dilemmas - Some thoughts on food (and increasingly observing kosher), the religion of hospitality philosophy, my Hebrew language course, meeting with my Rabbi again, and thoughts about telling family (someday) about my conversion process. (read more...)

Musical interlude, and Future Plans - A link to a wonderful music video with a boys choir (song in Hebrew), and some thoughts about process, experience, and Israel someday. (read more...)

Summarizing Lately, and Recent Ponderings - I tally where I am in my classes lately, and then share some recent ponderings which are building the foundation to my answer to "why are you Jewish?" which I anticipate having to discuss for the rest of my life. (read more...)

Passover and other chatting - My class had an early (practice) Seder together, then I hosted Seder both Saturday and Sunday, then my SCA group had a Seder together at the end of the week. I also noticed some diversity in my work environment and toured the Skirball Center over the weekend. (read more...)

Two Different Tales - First, (in my opinion) a student crosses a line in class in offensiveness, and I'm the one who was given the chance to stand up to him and speak my mind, calmly yet firm. Second, I find some wonderful podcasts that excite my love of learning. (read more...)

Essay #2: How Do You Celebrate Shabbat? - In my second assigned essay, I look at the ways I've learned to enjoy Shabbat so far, things that stick out in my memory as special, some things I might want to incorporate later, and the unique experience of enjoying a hobby that primarily meets on Saturdays and still I look for ways to "keep the Sabbath holy" in the midst of this wonderful thing I enjoy called the SCA. (read more...)

Essay #1: Describe Where You Are Now - Mon Feb 25: So, I'd been putting off doing one step in my Intro to Judaism class, and that's the "journal" assignments every week. I'm all caught up on my reading assignments (again) and I'm actually reading ahead on the syllabus. But I hadn't been doing the writing assignments, so it's probably time I start. So, I've worked on just the answer to week #1's assignment. There are 18 weeks in the course, so there are several (17) more essays to come. (read more...)