In my neighborhood a minority of houses have Christmas lights (which makes sense; we're about 50% Jewish, I think). Of those, a majority are tasteful and a few are over-the-top. But Friday night on my way to services I saw one that was both under-stated and remarkable ( Read more... )

This morning we read about the birth of our greatest prophet, who miraculously survived at a time when an evil king had ordered newborn children killed, and who grew up to become a great leader after many trials.

Yes, today was parshat Sh'mot, the first five chapters of the book of Exodus.

We went to my parents' house this evening. (Their holiday, not mine, but the gift thing is a strong family tradition.) During dinner someone mentioned a gift gone wrong from yesterday: my sister, not understanding the technologies involved, had bought my mother (a dedicated Elvis fan) an SD card with photos and some MP3s. She had thought that ( Read more... )

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The oddest questions come into my mind sometimes. Today's came while reading an article about festivities of the day. I suspect I have both readers with the same question and readers with the answer, so I'll ask here. (Tried Wikipedia, tried Google ( Read more... )

Friday at work I completed a big merge of my project's code to the main branch in source control. (Yeah, two hours before leaving for a four-day weekend, but I'd done a lot of testing first ( Read more... )

On Christmas, it is customary for Jews to go out for Chinese food and a movie. I'll have you know that Dani and I are not so stereotypical: this year we are going out for Japanese food and a movie. So there. :-) (Tomorrow should be a glorious day for getting work done. There were only about six people in the office today.)
This discussion of ( Read more... )

A year ago I wrote an essay that I didn't post here because I'd submitted it for publication elsewhere. The fabricated "war on Christmas" has caused me to want to share it now.

As I write this, it is mid-December and numerous editorial writers ( Read more... )

Shabbat services were well-attended this week. I think we have a significant number of interfaith families in the congregation, so I wouldn't have been surprised by sparse attendance.
This morning my rabbi asked us to mention, during this darkest ( Read more... )

Two takes on multiculturalism and December holidays, both written by liberal Jews, with rather different stances: one from JBCs (Jews by Choice) and one from the Velveteen Rabbi. I myself tend more toward ( Read more... )