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People tend to fall into two camps: those who don’t advocate for themselves and people who are always advocating for themselves.  As a society, we tend to deride that second group of people. But why? Is their behavior really that annoying or are we jealous? I can’t answer that categorically, but in at least some […]

Oh gee willikers, guys. There’s so much going on. And I can finally share it with you!  First, let’s talk about some personal stuff. I fell off the face of the earth recently, and now I can tell you why: I’m finally pregnant for the first time, and I’ve been sick as a dog. In

You’ve probably seen this phrase really often but may not even know it, especially if you don’t yet read Hebrew. Most notably, it has been written on (sewed onto) every challah cover I’ve ever seen. For example: So what’s it all about? Meaning & Usage It means “in honor of/for the honor of Shabbat and

I hope you have a fun Lag B’Omer! Break out the BBQ, shave, get a haircut, and don’t burn anything down!

You get four invitations to “The Annual Dinner.” In one day. Seven in one week, and I doubt the mail onslaught is over yet. From shuls past and present, Hatzolah, yeshivas, and seminaries. One is for a shul you’ve never even belonged to. In fact, you’ve never even been there. How does that happen??  All

I’ve written several times before about the need for every convert and BT to have a mentor. But really, you need at least five mentors because each will expose you to a different part of the community and to different facets of Jewish life. As a bonus, you see how multiple people handle similar situations

“I take a shower on Friday morning, and by the time Shabbat is over, I feel disgusting.” This conversation came up recently, and I realized there had to be a post on it ASAP. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m OCD (in the real way), and cleanliness is unusually important to me. It broke my heart

Today, I bring a personal question to the blog. Despite over 11 years of being “Jewishly affiliated,” I still feel most connected to the secular calendar. Only in the last few years have I made more of an effort to interact with the Hebrew calendar.  This has created a strange problem, I’m not sure how

Shavuot will be here soon, and we all know the deep connections most converts feel for the book of Ruth. (Or Rut, as I like to call her.) There’s a new book out that’ll put a whole new spin on how you read it!  I was given a PDF of the book in the hopes

If you’re near NYC or can get here on Sunday, May 17, there’s a three hour panel discussion you don’t want to miss.  Conversion Crisis: Is the System Broken? will host two of the biggest names in conversion, in addition to the President of the Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ): Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Rabbi Marc