Category: San Diego Jewish Community

  • D’var Torah: B’Chukotay

    Yeah, I know I’m posting it a week late, but I delivered it on time (Shabbat, 24 May 2008, 19 Iyar 5768) at Tifereth Israel. Among other things, B’Chukotay is notable for the inclusion of the tochecha, the section of punishments I refer to below, which, according to tradition, is to be read quickly and…

  • Shabbat shalom and happy bageling!

    Despite the name of the practice, bageling is a very appropriate Pesach activity. I was introduced to this charmingly named entertainment by a friend of my dad’s, who forwarded me the column below today. Happily, unlike in the case of many such forwards, this one still had the author’s byline, and a little Googling turned…

  • My amazing offspring…

    …except that, well, you know, she isn’t my offspring in the literal sense of that word. Regardless, she IS amazing, and I happily take credit for her attitude and disposition, seeing as how I’ve been co-responsible for her since the moment she was born. She had a rough night last night, up a few times…

  • On giving back, giving thanks, and not giving up

    We got up bright and early this morning to walk 5K in downtown San Diego to raise money for Jewish Family Service and the San Diego Food Bank. Felt good. Ran into many people we know, and saw the power of grassroots passionate politics in action: two Ron Paul supporters I saw walked the entire…

  • Quality time, and Spider-Man 3 pre-review

    We spent time tonight with E and S, good friends with whom we have a weekly dinner, rotating between our two houses. We were scheduled to go up to their house, but S called to let us know their laundry machine is on the fritz again, so we switched the date to our place, and…

  • Google is awesome. Google is also a little scary.

    I need not elaborate on Google’s awesomeness. The scariness: crawling my blog within five minutes of my posting last night’s entry. MY site!? I knew it had been crawled before, when I first got the domain and started blogging, but I had no idea the bots were persistent and wide-ranging enough to grab my random…

  • Parenting, literally and figuratively.

    Parenting is hard. I’m not complaining, mind you, just stating a fact. Allow me to illustrate with two anecdotes. Having a fever of 102°F sucks. Being less than 13 months old with a fever of 102°F sucks a couple of ways. First, you have no idea why you feel so crappy; you have no life…

  • In case you missed it…

    Here’s that local news piece about my meeting with Phyllis in May. And yes, I’m really still working on writing the story.

  • Not one, but two “Whaaa?!” moments in one day.

    You know, the rub-your-eyes-with-your-fists, lean-your-head-forward-with-a-quizzical-look moment… 1. My campus is closed this coming Monday for what is labeled on the official campus calendar software “Martin Luthor King Day.” Apparently, Lex himself was an evil twin of a pioneering civil rights leader who changed the face of this country forever. Either that, or we’ve been spelling…

  • Commentary on the Torah portion and current events

    I delivered this drash this past Shabbat, Saturday, July 22, at Ohr Shalom. I’m proud to say that the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, shares my sentiments, as evidenced by his speech to the Knesset [Hebrew, English] on July 17 (which I had not read until today [hat tip, AbeJ]). *** There are some…