devarim

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This is really starting to grate on me. I am just about ready to burst with sociopolitical commentary, but I have to keep it bottled up. It doesn't help that there are religious facets (Judaism-specific and cross-cultural) to many of these issues that I dare not discuss in public (including online) lest my words be misconstrued as political endorsement. It's making my blog very boring, and it's frying my brain.

Be it known that I do have some awareness of the complex world around me, and that there are many things about which I have developed opinions, some of them quite passionate. Also let it be known that I have acquired a recent fondness for unnecessary adjectives.

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Also, I miss this.

The good news: I was offered a position as a returning law clerk on the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court for September of 2005 through August of 2006. (I'm taking it.)

The bad news: Another year of this. On balance, though, I think I'm in good shape.

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In unrelated news, recent hits to this site came from searches for "deaf intermarriage debate" and "paddywagon subcutaneous." Please, come back and explain.

No more confusion. God has it all straightened out now. The Yankees won the season opener against the Red Sox, and all is right with the world.

I'm wearing a new necklace today. It's one of those many-stranded beaded things, supposedly made under fair trade rules by artisan craftswomen in Nepal or something. I don't think I've ever worn a chunky, substantial necklace like this; most of my neck jewelry consists of thin chains with small pendants, and the rest are understated silver-link deals no more than a quarter of an inch wide. This one isn't heavy or anything, but I'm still doing double-takes whenever I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I can't take off my suit jacket because the contrast between the mostly-black necklace and my off-white shirt is just too much of a leap for me today.

If you happen to run across my self-confidence, please drop it in the mail with a label saying, "Return to Owner." I'll cover postage.

Everyone was talking about Terri Schiavo, and then everyone was talking about the Pope (and they are still). Somewhere in there, people may have been talking about Johnnie Cochran and Frank Perdue as well. Isaac Asimov died on this day in 1992, and I still remember where I was when I found out (though, admittedly, it was a few days later). And in case you missed it on the news, author and playwright Saul Bellow died yesterday here in Brookline.

Still, the recent obituary that I found the most fascinating was that of Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Yesterday we received our assignments for the summer rotation at my clerkship. The good news: we don't need to borrow a car from my in-laws and find a second parking spot. The better news: Julian and I will get to carpool together! Yay! - more time with my husband!

Now commence the battles over car windows and radio stations.

NOTE to parents and those with delicate sensibilities: Straightforward language used below. You were warned.

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Thanks to DovBear, I learned that a San Diego human rights group has submitted a proposed bill to ban male infant circumcision.

I have many, many thoughts on the matter. Of course, I recognize that brit milah (ritual Jewish male infant circumcision, performed on the eighth day of life for a healthy baby) is an important mitzvah, a foundation of Jewish faith and a fundamental Jewish practice. It is one of those mitzvot that we are to perform without rational explanation. Should we be blessed with sons, they will without a doubt be circumcised in this manner (though my personal preference is to have the minimum amount of cutting and blood-drawing required under halacha). However, in the back of my mind, I cannot figure out why we do this, and, furthermore, why anyone else would want to if it were not required by religion.

When present, the foreskin protects the glans (tip of the penis). Without the foreskin, the exposed glans rubs against clothing and diapers and slowly loses sensitivity. The foreskiin keeps that area sensitive and protected. It also holds in natural secretions that aid both in protecting the glans and in providing lubrication during intercourse. No firsthand experience, but I've heard tell that sex with an uncircumcised man is also generally more pleasurable for the woman; there's the aforementioned lubrication issue, and the retracted foreskin provides extra vaginal stimulation.

Medically speaking, the foreskin is not meant to be detached/retracted from the head of the penis early in infancy. During childhood, it slowly detaches on its own and within a several years (I don't know exactly when) it can move around and retract fully. Cleanliness, a common argument for male circumcision, is no more an issue for uncircumcised little boys than it is for little girls...the vagina and labia are not without their folds and secretions!

[more in comments]

Go ahead and rail me in the comments; it'll be fun all around.

I never wrote the promised follow up to this, but I did come across a post by wessel containing the following:

I look around at my life, at the people in my community who truly strive every day to be good and do good, and it is a good life.

Even if I no longer believe in a personal god, I can't see the value in overthrowing the religion. I look at my secular friends and am saddened and sometimes appalled at the choices they make and the devastating problems their choices create; such issues are rare in our community, where the wisdom of theTorah is our guide. Lately, I've begun to view religion as less a personal relationship between me and a Creator, and more as a system of beliefs which are sound and to which I can remain committed for the other benefits provided.

One day (maybe, I hope) I will get around to writing out all my thoughts on this. I know that Stella will read it, at least.

Ari B. alerted me to this recent sell out on the part of an important childhood idol: Cookie Monster is betraying his roots and *gasp* supplementing his diet with healthier foods.

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On a related note, I just noticed that Shmuel got to meet Susan, Maria, and Gordon (not their real names) very recently, and he has the pictures to prove it.

When given the chance to make up for past wrongs, take it.

*pant* *pant* I'm a little late. Sorry. It's Nisan. Where did that come from?

This is from my sister-in-law, by way of my husband. (You need to have your sound on.)

By way of Bloghead, I found this account of soldiers' Pesach Sedarim during the American Civil War. There's much to be said about the poignancy of celebrating our freedom from slavery while fighting a war for - or against - the similar liberation of other slaves...but I'm still stuck on the hilarious cider incident, so someone else will have to say it.

Yes, I know that Eliot was an anti-Semite. It's still a good poem, and apropos for the day.

Go ShaBot, it's your Pesach! Thanks, Ari B.

Also, In Da Shul.

Sound necessary for both.

This weather alert, warning of an elevated risk of brush fires due to lack of rainfall and low humidity in the (NY-NJ-CT) Tri-State area, couldn't come at a worse time, what with the massive burning of bread later this week and all.

My husband is wonderful. He already did well more than his share of Pesach preparations (and "his share" was origianlly considered half, not 5%), and is doing yet more while I sit here at work, idly thumbing through case files and conducting some leisurely legal research. That's on top of his also going to work today (and let's not forget that it's his income that really supports us) and probably running himself raw with shopping and menial food prep for the rest of the week. Julian, I love you so much.

Er, yes. Mushiness. Sorry.

Don't ask me why, but I decided to Google myself this afternoon, using both my current name and my former surname (Bar-Giora). I found this, which lead me to this, which I think is my earliest-ever publication. If memory serves, the magazine now known as Teen Ink was a newspaper called The 21st Century back when my opinion piece was printed a decade ago. The byline for my piece, as it appears online today, is just "Shanna B."; I presume this was done to protect my privacy or something, but obviously my full name was printed in the actual paper, and it's not that hard to figure it out (search the site for "Rabin" and read either of the feedback pieces).

I could have sworn I had a few other items published there, a couple of poems and another opinion piece, I think. I can't find them, though. Maybe I'm delusional.

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And for those of you who went to high school with me, I give you this. And this. And of course this. Hell, all of this. You know who it is, right? If you're out there and reading, Ms. NCC...hi!

For those celebrating Pesach, I wish you all a chag same'ach (happy holiday). I presume you can take care of the kasher part yourselves.

Also, Shabbat shalom!

Julian shaved off his beard today. He insists that he wasn't inspired by Ari B.'s dad. To be fair, we were discussing this idea for the past couple of weeks. The presence of facial hair is about two years old (post-wedding) and it's likely to reappear at some point in the future, but for now, I like my babyface just the way he is.

Hey, at least he didn't nuke his hand or anything.

Ari B. has clued me in: someone is trying to organize a Time Traveler Convention at M.I.T. next week. Without delving into the intricacies of alternate realities (or altered consciousness, which may be what we really need to get this to happen), let me just say that I think the idea is crazy enough that it just might work. In an Asimov story.

I'll give the guy his desired publicity anyway; because I'd like to say I did my own little part in supporting a harebrained idea with practically no chance of success. Hey, you never know. Also, because he was kind enough to schedule it on a Saturday night, rather than on Shabbat.*

The Time Traveler Convention
May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)
East Campus Courtyard, MIT
42:21:36.025°N, 71:05:16.332°W
(42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)

If you are so inclined, please copy this information into some other, more permanent, medium. Store it away soomewhere where future generations might read it. Then put on your best anachronistic garb and convalesce on the M.I.T. campus in a week and a half.

* It is during sefirat ha'omer, though, which will probably keep some observant Jews from attending. Maybe we can designate a music-free zone for those who will attend parties and gatherings, but not listen to music? Also, if you travel through time, do you continue counting the omer based on the number of days since you celebrated Pesach, or do you adjust your count based on when you are in the world? My gut tells me it's the former, which could lead to a very interesting machloket (disagreement) about when to celebrate Shavuot.

...in the Filene's Basement communal fitting room:

I had no idea I was going to Filene's Basement today! I didn't even shave my legs!

Oh, please. I don't even shave my legs for dates anymore.

I've been chewing over the sheitel (wig for the purposes of kisui rosh) thing for a while now. Follow-up on that another time. Maybe. But in the meantime, read the comments on this post, which I found thanks to new blogger kisui rosh.