I had an interesting thought recently: What do you call someone who always judges favorably? …Gullible. Of course, the halacha is more complicated. However, there is an undeniable trend in the stories that the tzaddikim judged favorably even when the Torah did not require them to. There is a story of the Chofetz Chaim advising […]
Judging Others Favorably Read Post »
Now that Purim is over, you can begin really thinking about your Pesach preparations! I know, right? We all love Pesach (Passover) preparations! …Not. If you haven’t prepared for Pesach before, I suggest taking it slow. Last year, I didn’t kasher my kitchen because I had just decided to be orthodox and didn’t know what
Purim Is Over, Now Pesach Is Coming: Start Your Cleaning! Read Post »
How do you cope with going back to normal life when you’re not “normal” anymore? I don’t remember who originally asked me that question, but it’s the perfect way to describe things. My answer? Everyone copes, whether they want to or not. Some do it better than others. And some circumstances are more conducive to
Dealing with Coping Read Post »
Tattoos are discussed here. Piercings can be an issue for two primary reasons: 1) keeping your body intact and in its natural form and 2) because piercings used to indicate that a person (particularly a male) was a slave. In general today, piercings don’t appear to be an issue for conversion candidates except for social
Convert Questions: Can a Convert Keep His or Her Piercings? Read Post »
Just in case you don’t already know, tomorrow is a fast day: Ta’anit Esther (The fast of Esther). Because Purim falls on motzei Shabbos (Saturday night) and Sunday this year, the fast is pushed forward to the Thursday before. The fast tomorrow is from sunrise to sunset. Normally, the fast would end after the Megillah
Tomorrow Is Ta’anit Esther Read Post »
It’s raining in Northern California, and that means driving in the rain with Californians. This is ugly. And it made me reflect on Monday’s post. I said that I put a lot of emphasis on avoiding embarrassment. However, I realized that I have an area of my life where I actually WANT to embarrass people.
Revisiting the Mitzvah of Not Embarrassing People Read Post »
I’m a student, and I’m not particularly fond of cooking. (Though I’m a great chef’s assistant!) And the closest kosher restaurant is 2 hours away. How on earth do I survive?? It’s not for the faint of heart. The answer is pretty straightforward. I cook at home, I eat at the homes of others, B”H
Survival Kit: Living Without Kosher Restaurants Read Post »
Since it’s the first day back, I’m throwing a softball. What’s your favorite mitzvah? When all’s said and done, I would say avoiding embarrassing other people. I try to put a lot of effort into that. What do I look forward to improving? Kashrut. Only because I want to be an awesome host one day.
Discussion: Your Favorite Mitzvah Read Post »
Since there is so much going on in Japan and Libya, it appears that a crime against humanity has flown under the news radar. My dad is a total news junkie, and if I know news he doesn’t, there is a problem. (My news sources are Facebook and Twitter. No TV for this girl for
News: Massacre in Israel Read Post »
I thank all you regular readers for your patience with my sporadic writing this week. I hope to have the blog back to “normal” starting Monday morning at 7am Pacific. Now, for you new folk. There’s a lot of you. Like a lot a lot. On Tuesday, March 1st, I hit 20k pageviews after writing
Management Update: What Is this Blog, Anyway? Read Post »