Last week, a Sephardic member of our shul (synagogue) asked me which Middle Eastern country my family comes from. “None,” I explained, “We’re Ashkanazi.” “Really?” he exclaimed, “I was certain you were Sephardic.” After this encounter, I got to thinking: despite being completely Ashkanazi, with both sides of my family hailing from Ukraine, Russia and […]
I just realized that if you want to be a passable Jew, you better de-Jewify. If you want to be a Jew that is tolerated, you better not be too Jewish, for there is a harm in being too Jewish. I’ve known for quite some time that the media and much of the secular world […]
From Roman invaders And Hellenist Greeks From violent Crusaders Those days were so bleak From Inquisitors in Spain And Nazis of Reich three Cossacks in Russia And then the KGB But not in New York, Toronto, or LA. Not in London, Lima, or Paris, we won’t hide today. The world woke up to […]
Instead of debating the merits (or lack there of) of the Senate Impeachment trial yesterday, most of Twitter was abuzz with a far more important topic: why President Trump’s Orthodox Jewish lawyer, David Schoen, put his hand on his head every time he drank water. No one knows the exact reason. Schoen normally wears a […]
Several years ago, I had a very unpleasant exchange on Facebook with a man I didn’t know. He told me that I have Stockholm Syndrome because I’m an Orthodox Jewish woman. Besides the fact that I chose this life (and continue to choose it everyday), I was disgusted that this stranger mansplained to me how I ought […]
The Jewish people are an interesting group. I love my brethren dearly, but sometimes they frustrate me. To our credit, many of us are quick to think about the needs of others. We are overrepresented in groups like the Peace Corps, various social justice causes, and we give a tremendous amount of charity as a […]
