devarim

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My friend's wife has just published her third book: MD: A Four-Year Journey Through Medical School. I haven't read it yet, so I can't promise it's as funny as her first or second books (on the world of shidduch dating), but her writing overall is excellent. So I'll do a "didn't read the book yet but I like the person" haskama (see uberimma for details) and say that this would make an...

The other day, Julian spotted this commercial on TV: I missed the very beginning, but a couple of seconds after I started watching, I shouted out: "TRON!" Gotta maintain the Child Of The Eighties street cred, right? And then I stared at the screen, waiting to see what product was being advertised. (Remember: missed the beginning, and was watching this on an actual television so no helpful filenames.) When the logo for...

Obviously I wasn't able to stick with that whole NaBloPoMo thing. Oh well. In the meantime (and with thanks to maric for showing me the way), I am dellighted to announce that I am, apparently, in tune with my (somewhat disturbed) feminine side: You are The Moon Hope, expectation, bright promises. The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly...

This has got to be the most pathetic attempt at NaBloPoMo ever. I already missed the second day! Is there any way to redeem myself? Probably not......

I must be nuts, but if nothing else this is a good way to make up for lost blogging time. I'm not sure I can keep it up, but with Shabbat ending so early this time of year I have no excuse for Saturday nights, and without gainful employment outside the home I have no excuse for any other day, either. So, here it is: my first post of NaBloPoMo. Erm,...

From this week's PostSecret: Yom Kippur is an interesting time to contemplate this image and its associated (non)believer. We like to think we will pass through the Ten Days of Repentance with a sense of awe and reverence and emerge after Yom Kippur with a profound understanding of ourselves and the world. Or, at least, some level of preparation for and acceptance of Divine judgment (whatever that may mean in your eyes)....

If you've ever wanted to take your pooch to J.P. Licks for a treat, you're in luck: The ice cream chain is now making ice cream for dogs. Two-and-a-half bucks gets your four-legged best friend a five-ounce bowl of the peanut butter flavored creamy cool, with two doggie biscuits on the side. The best part? And there was one final detail: the ice cream had to be kosher, so it could fit...

For some words of wisdom from Yoda....

Spotted by Julian on his way home from work yesterday....

Much as I suspected, there are two good reasons to celebrate today. 1 - It's Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's (who, I must point out, grew up in Merrick, NY)! 2 - It's my second blogiversary!...

Barbie and Ken are back together: In February 2004, as every 5-year-old knows, Ken and Barbie called it quits. According to Mattel, which says it relies on customer feedback on its Web site to shape the Barbie-Ken narrative, Barbie was wooed away by an Australian surfer named Blaine. Ken, heartbroken, traveled the world in search of himself, making stops in Europe and the Middle East, dabbling in Buddhism and Catholicism, teaching himself...

As promised, the project has grown! I present: Mikolot Mayim Rabim...

Oh, yay! My project just got a plug from Nishmat's Yoatzot site: www.mayimrabim.com. Mayim Rabim is an online resource and discussion forum on issues of taharat hamishpacha. While we cannot vouch for all of the contents of and contributions to the site, we support Mayim Rabim's efforts to build a community for women to discuss these topics with each other. Wheeeeeee! On a related note, the project has a sub-project brewing, so...

So, I'm a little behind the times, sorry 'bout that, but...Anonymommy gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Monday!...

Perhaps inspired by my Wigging Out series (and I'm still waiting for you to elaborate on your comment, OOSJ!), peninah has posted her Ramblings On Buying Hair. part of a series: I, II, II 1/2, III, IV . . ....

The Nintendo Catalog Read the blurbs. Trust me. Link credit to G.P. Title credit to R.S....

I'm stating to think that Shifra has a hidden camera in my apartment. How else could she have written this?...

It looks like New Englanders will have a little extra time to file their taxes this year (and next?): The Internal Revenue Service has pushed back the deadline for federal tax returns to April 18 for people in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The deadline was pushed back because April 15 falls on a Saturday and April 17 is Patriots Day, a state holiday...

From a New York Times article on Libyan food: The better restaurants in Tripoli often carry an array of meze-style salads, the highlight of which was usually eggplant dishes. Arab salad, a mixture of chopped cucumber, tomato, bell peppers and parsley, followed the soup. I'm sure this is just an artifact of my cultural upbringing, but I grew up calling that stuff Israeli salad. Granted, I don't think it was invented in...

There's a new blogger on the scene: Ruth. I assume she takes her name from the most famous Jew-by-choice of all. Not much content yet, but it looks promising...and I like the tagline....

I first heard about this on the news yesterday morning, but I didn't get a chance to find out all the details until just now, reading the New York Times article: It is not clear what prompted Selina Akther to move toward a window of her fifth-floor apartment in Queens, the police said. Her two children were sleeping and her husband was on a phone call to Bangladesh in another room, so...

Update: LZ tweaked the test a bit, and now M.O. is less of a catch-all. I have updated results. Even though my good friend, the husband of the former Ms. Tamar Katz, was drafting a Modern-or-Yeshivish categorization test some time ago, it looks like Lamed Zayin has beaten him to the punch. My results: A more careful breakdown of my responses reveals that I am:Left Wing Modern Orthodox: 73% Right Wing Modern...

Karen Karbo has a hilarious Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times, inspired by HarperCollins's recent decision to digitally remove the cigarette from Clement Hurd's illustrator's photo in new editions of the children's classic, Goodnight Moon. Among Ms. Karbo's other suggested changes: The blue stripes are adorable, but the reader has no way of knowing whether Bunny's pj's meet current flammability standards. Suggested change: digitally alter to include visible "flame resistant" label,...

For those of you who have been following persephone's saga, but not so obsessively as to have read her announcement this morning...she had an ultrasound this morning, and they found two heartbeats! B'sha'ah tova, my dear, and may you welcome these new lives in the fullness of (early) summer with much joy....

I was, one day, planning to write a post about why women may make Kiddush for men, but LabRab, in a comment at Drew Kaplan's Blog, seems to have beaten me to it (seventh comment down):Both men and women are obligated in Kiddush on Shabbat. Women might have been exempt, since it's a mitzvat aseh shehazeman grama, except the analogy of shamor to zachor renders them obligated. So in theory women could...

Tapped by Shifra. I restored the missing categories (based on Mirty's entry) so there are now seven groups of seven, as intended. This is still in progress, but I wanted to get it up here today and my lunch break is over, so... 7 Things I Can Do: make vegetarian food good enough to convert even the most die-hard meat-eater (at least, I haven't failed yet) pair wines with foods and cheeses...

I thought I'd take a moment to note two interesting conversations I've participated in on other blogs. First, Yaakov of AliyahBlog asks: Why do they even bother coming to shul, if all they're going to do is stand out in the lobby and shmooze? And in a bit of an etymology digression Modern Orthodox Woman talks about the movement to replace ba'al (husband/master) and isha (wife/woman) with ben-zug and bat-zug (partner/spouse) in...

Though I have links in my sidebar to most of the blogs that I follow, there are a few others I read that are not included there (for a variety of reasons). One of these is B'sha'ah Tova (lit. "in a good hour" or more poetically "in the proper time" - the traditional Jewish greeting extended to a pregnant woman or her family members upon hearing the news of her pregnancy). It...

Tomorrow's New York Times Science section has a column wherein a heart surgeon meditates on his Orthodox Jewish patient's acceptance of a pig heart valve over an artificial valve. This is kind of beating the pikuach nefesh issue (put simply: you can violate any commandment - except murder, idolatry, and adultery - to save a life) over the head, isn't it? And it doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy, since...

Hey, remember how I told you about persephone's IVF a couple of weeks ago? Good news - it looks like she's pregnant!...

Persephone is undergoing her first IVF embryo transfer this Shabbat. So if everyone could think good thoughts in her general direction, that would be spiffy....

I got this meme from Twink, who got it from Amanda, and so on...Rules: 1. Go into your archive. 2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to it). 3. Find the 5th sentence (or closest to it). 4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. My result: I look forward to bumping into you in shul one day. (For the record, I did.)...

Anyone want to join me in my attempt to get into the Serenity screening this evening? I would go with Julian, but he's presenting at SNUG today and probably can't make it downtown in time. I can take one person, and I reserve the right to pick someone I know personally and/or use other criteria in my choice. If you are interested, please email my gmail address. If you don't have that...

According to the article in today's Metro, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were married over the weekend in "a Kabbalah ceremony." Obviously, this is some wonderful facet of Judaism I missed out on, having had the terribly poor judgment of getting married before the age of forty....

Rajiv tipped me off to this opportunity for bloggers to get onto the press list for an advance screening of Serenity next week. Those bloggers who received confirmation emails (not actually guaranteeing us seats, but at least putting our names on The List) have been asked to post the following official movie blurb:Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE...

Yeah, yeah, I need to update this blog with our moving tales. Short story: most of our stuff is in the new apartment, hopefully before we go to sleep tonight all if it will be there, and there will be an open house at the old place on Sunday. Also, many thanks to the friends who will be having us over for Shabbat meals this week and to the other friends who...

Does anyone know whether this is legitimate? If so, it is shaping up to be a good resources for at least once segment of the displaced New Orleans community and their loved ones. Update: I thought it was clear from the fact that there were already comments here stating that the site is legit, but just to make it perfectly obvious - Yes. This is a credible diary/blog/information page....

From this article in the New York Times:The Superdome refugees will make the 350-mile trip from New Orleans to Houston on 475 buses to be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Governor Perry said. The Astrodome, which can provide living space for about 25,000 people, will be available to house them - and presumably other refugees - at least until December, and longer, if necessary. Twenty-five thousand people. Four months, maybe...

Today the New York Times published letters in response to the article I blogged about last week. Some selections (not necessarily quoted in their entirety) and my comments:...

Go read Alisha's post on Halacha, Hashkafa, and Life. She even provides footnotes! Here, I'll give you a teaser:I'll buy the necessity of imposing personally meaningless limitations in order to create a collectively meaningful mood. But how about when the defining line is not me vs. us but rather then vs. now? If women had been accustomed to painting their nails in Chazal's time (or were they?) would it have been forbidden...

From an article in today's New York times on the geographical history of New Orleans:Although early travelers realized the irrationality of building a port on shifting mud in an area regularly ravaged by storms and disease, the opportunities to make money overrode all objections....

I've been reading about the monster of a hurricane headed for New Orleans, and two things from this article are sticking out in my mind: Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems. [New Orleans Mayor Ray] Nagin also dispatched police...

For Better or For Worse goes meta...

On Sunday we had Aviel and Joel over for brunch. Both are delightful, and Aviel is much bubblier and more outgoing than I expected. As a peace offering, they brought a copy of Joel's new CD, Songs For People. The music is all folksy, just voice and guitar (I think...), stuff I like when I'm in the right mood but don't really own enough of. I absolutely love the bonus tracks (not...

Thanks to DovBear and Mis-Nagid, I've found yet another area in which the United States lags behind most of the rest of the world: flag design. (Libya's rating is my favorite.)...

I'm most of the way through The Two-Income Trap, which I picked up (used) for a mere dollar at the Booksmith earlier this month. The book's authors make compelling (though not irrefutable) economic arguments in favor of sending only one parent into the income-producing workforce while the other stays home tend to children, run the household, and serve as a source of "fallback income" should the need arise. Aside from the stereotypical...

Today's New York Times Science section has a "Cases" article/essay on the possible detrimental effects of a father's presence in the delivery room on the parents' future romantic and sexual relationship:In the age of the "new man," very little consideration is given to the potentially negative side effects of togetherness in the delivery room. Every man I have spoken with over the past few years knows he is expected to be with...

Apparently, today is National Punctuation Day....

Soferet Aviel Barclay will be speaking tonight at 7:30 P.M. at Nehar Shalom in Jamaica Plain. I'm going to try to make it (unfortunately, I have an appointment at 6:30 that I must keep), but even if I can't we get to hang out with Aviel and Joel on Sunday. Yay!...

It's a big ad! Be sure to watch with your sound on. (Thanks, Ari B.)...

Two more IDF soldiers caught looting homes in Gush Katif: Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were caught Tuesday trying to loot the evacuated homes of settlers in the Gush Katif settlement of Pe'at Sadeh. This is the third time soldiers have been caught attempting to loot homes in that settlement this week. * * * According to IDF officials, the soldiers have already admitted their guilt.... Two soldiers from the Givati Brigade...

From Ha'aretz One police officer was wounded when settlers threw acid in his eyes. The officer began shouting, "I can't see!" Rioters sprayed another policeman with gas and he suffered from burns on his back. Youths also assaulted senior officers and journalists present at the scene, destroying a camera of a Reuters photographer, throwing paint and cleaning fluids at an army colonel, and breaking the glasses of another journalist. Two settlers were...

Ah, it had to happen sooner or later. Heshy has paid me a visit. (Link crippled to prevent raising his Google PageRank.) If you don't know who Heshy is, consider yourself lucky. He posted two identical comments, one on a vaguely appropriate post and another on my snowflake essay. Strike one: don't post irrelevant comments. They will be removed (as the snowflake one has been). Both comments included a link back to...

Jewish terrorist Eden Natan Zadah kills 4 on Shfaram bus In what police are calling an incident of Jewish terrorism, a Jewish man dressed in IDF uniform opened fire on a bus in the northern town of Shfaram Thursday evening, killing at least 4 people and wounding nearly a dozen more. The shooter, Eden Tzuberi, 19, was also killed when he was assaulted by a mob of furied bystanders and witnesses. *...

Wow. It's almost enough to counterbalance this....

Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned From GuestBlogging On DovBear Now that our week of guestblogging for DovBear is over, and we each go off to our respective places in the obscurity of the jblogosphere, we wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you and let everyone know what we learned over the past week: Spell Check is your friend. MO vs UO is always a good comment generator....

For those of you looking for some mind-bending this week, might I recommend these posts by elf and her Mr.?...

It's less than halfway over, but if business school grads felt the same way about The Apprentice as I feel about The Law Firm, there must be a lot of TV out there with rotten tomatoes on them. Seriously, I took one semester of trial advocacy in law school and I did a better job during our "final exam" (a mock trial) than these people are doing.... OK...so the closing arguments weren't...

My fear has become a reality: CINCINNATI --Federated Department Stores Inc. said Thursday that some 330 stores being acquired in its pending takeover of May Department Stores Co. will be converted to Macy's stores, including stores that now carry the Filene's name, a Boston institution. *sob* More details: However, the fate of the landmark store in Boston's Downtown Crossing has not yet been decided, according to Jim Sluzewski, spokesman for Federated which...

Earlier MomOf4 wrote about Gaza settlers writing their national identification numbers on their arms as a way of comparing themselves to Holocaust victims. Today, she revisited the topic to point out that some settlers intend to wear concentration camp uniforms as they are being evacuated. I don't care how beautiful your home is, how sad you are to be leaving your community, how distasteful you find it to be escorted out by...

I'll be guest-blogging at DovBear for the week. Most stuff (like the rest of this post, actually), will be cross-posted. Things I have Learned Today: DovBear does not hate me; DovBear does not think I'm a bad writer; DovBear thinks my blog has fallen into the dumps; DovBear doesn't know that we've just had our bathroom retiled and therefore could not shower at home all last week; I bug DovBear enough to...

Google is hiring for their newest research facility. Be sure you read all six pages of the job description. Then check your calendar. Although, this makes me wonder: Obviously, a new set of tools for computing in the unforgiving conditions of deep space is needed. This month, Google will release version 10.0 of an operating system that has been optimized for the demands of extra-terrestrial computation. Known as "Luna/X," the new command...

Go read this excellent review by ADDeRabbi on the new Artscroll "women's siddur."...

Oh dear. I think fruit is going to be on its way out entirely. According to the New York Times, the next big thing is going to be tattooed fruit: A new technology being used by produce distributors employs lasers to tattoo fruits and vegetables with their names, identifying numbers, countries of origin and other information that helps speed distribution. The marks are burned onto the outer layer of the skin and...

Yesterday's Boston Globe contained an op-ed column entitled, "Poland's New Fascination With Jews." The article began with quotes from Cynthia Ozick's 1973 essay imagining the world's reverence of the Jews, if we had all vanished long ago: ''How -- if there were no Jews -- the world would be enraptured!" she wrote. ''The people that stood at Sinai to receive a desert vision of purity, the people of scholarly shepherds, humane prophetic...

As a follow-up to my reaction to Rabbi Basil Herring's comments about Orthodox mothers, nursing, and shul, please see some private communication from R' Herring posted at OrthoMom....

So, according to Bloghead, who go it from The Jewish Week, the Conservative movement has ruled that women are now permitted to breastfeed in the sanctuary portion of their synagogues. Now, I am a huge fan of breastfeeding, on demand, without shame, but this is a step too far even for me (and Miriam, it seems, read the Bloghead post). I try not to talk during services, I dress appropriately, and I...

I can't believe I just did this, but I put an ICE number into my cell phone. The listing says "ICE - Julian (husband)" and it defaults to his cell phone, though I will be adding his work number and our home number. Of course, my next thought was "what if, when the emergency workers are trying to call him, emergency workers somewhere else are using his phone to try to call...

Score another one for drug-free childbirth:* Man faints, dies after seeing epidural Actually, it's quite tragic. I can't imagine going through labor after that (though I hope that she continued thinking only that he'd passed out, not knowing how baadly injured he was). And what in the world do you tell your child about how his father died? * I can't believe I even have to put in this footnote, but I'm...

As you may or may not have noticed, I've added some new links to the "Other People" section of my sidebar. Check them out!...

It seems that, for his next project, Steven Spielberg is tackling the murder of eleven Israeli atheletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics and the subsequent retaliation by Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence agency. There are plenty of complicating political issues surrounding this film, and (as reported by the New York Times article), according to associates: Mr. Spielberg has sought counsel from advisers ranging from his own rabbi to the former American...

Hey, does anyone know what happened to Aviel's Netivat Sofrut?...

Ah, bliss! The Muppet Show theme...in Hebrew. (Ari B., Julian may just have to kill you for showing me this.)...

Karen over at Modern Orthodox Woman put up a post about welcoming and naming ceremonies for baby girls, and it looks like an interesting discussion is shaping up. In my comment over there, I wrote about a Shabbat morning baby naming at Ramath Orah that I was privileged to attend a few years ago: The father brought his new daughter up to the bima with him for his aliyah (or maybe someone...

So I heard through the grapevine that a friend from my high school and college days recently (or maybe not so recently) came out...and he is also the co-founder of qjew, a dating website for gay and lesbian Jews. Now, say what you want about queer Jews trying to reconcile and embrace these two fundamental aspects of their lives (and I'm sure someone out there will say something), but I think this...

Actually, quite the opposite. Have a script. Have them all! (Found by way of DovBear.)...