In honour of its being Adar, I give you Dog Torah. I have a puppy. Parts of her are tan-coloured like parchment, and parts of her are black and shiny like Torah ink. She likes to squirm around on the couch. I am a sofer stam. Now read on…
Tuesday night, I was teaching at my scribe school, as is my wont on Tuesday nights. Three-quarters of the room was speaking Yiddish. Now, I posted recently about the surreal experience of being at a party of young, egal-type Jews where three-quarters of the room was speaking Yiddish. That was strange, yes. But having three-quarters […]
I get these by email every so often. 1. What is your favorite part of your job? If you’re very lucky, in your life you’ll find an activity – maybe something physical, or intellectual, or creative, or none of those – that is just *right* for you. When you start doing it, everything feels good […]
The Women’s Torah Project peeps sent me a pretty pretty certificate honouring me as one of the Sisters of the Torah, “dedicated to the discovery of ancient roots and the creation of powerful futures.” Isn’t that sweet and generous of them? As I think I’ve said before, the project organisers really are rather a special […]
A meditation on the incremental nature of change, with interconnected letters and increasingly-flourishing leaves. Attributed to R’ Abraham Joshua Heschel, although I truly doubt Heschel ever said that, such that if anyone can find me a primary source I will eat my hat broccoli. Prints available for purchase in my Etsy store, just in case […]
A very Rodeph-Sholom couple of weeks. Rodeph Sholom, for those not intimately familiar with Manhattan’s Upper West Side Jewish Scene, is a Reform synagogue of epic proportions, with after-school religious school program, and eponymous Reform day school a few blocks away. I have the good fortune to visit them relatively often. Week before last I […]
Mazal tovs to the Women’s Torah Project on finishing their Torah! “The first Torah written and embellished by an international community of women,” as they say. I’ve written three Torahs at this point, so I know well how nice it feels to finish writing a Torah. The Women’s Torah Project started about ten years ago […]
I’m taking Prof. Steiner’s Intro to Biblical Hebrew class at Yeshiva University this semester, and I like it a whole lot. It’s a standard biblical grammar course, but it’s presented in a way I’ve never heard grammar described, and as a result, I’m finding myself actually rather excited about it. This, you understand, is an […]
Now all the holidays are safely over (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, COLUMBUS DAY), it’s time to get down to the semester in earnest. What about making this the year you get round to learning safrut? Especially if you’re in NYC and you want to learn it with me, because I’m thinking about taking a few […]
The Soferet is going to Limmud 30, people! What do you think I should present?
