Mixed Multitudes

Best of the Week

Jeremy Moses — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:31:34 +0000

The Yankees win! The Yankees win! Oh, I’m sorry. That would be in the “Worst of the Week.” Quick rant: Instead of 50 game suspensions for baseball players caught using steroids, how about they make a rule that every time a player’s name is ever mentioned in the media again, whether it be in newspapers, [...]

Righteous Reads: Time-tested Picks for Young Adults

Micol Ostow — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:07:14 +0000

Micol Ostow, author of So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), is guest-blogging all week with MyJewishLearning and Jewish Book Council. It occurs to me that after the somewhat irreverent tone of my last post, I may have given the impression that I’ve taken a very “out with the old, in with the [...]

Wise Fridays: Men Follow Women

Haskel and Deah — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:22:19 +0000

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, “Go speak to the daughters of Israel and ask them whether they wish to receive the Torah.” Why were the women asked first? Because the way of men is to follow the opinion of women. –Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 41 Find more Wise Fridays wisdom on MJL.

The Good Wife: Hasid for a Day

matthue — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:05:46 +0000

A few weeks ago, Matthue Roth, associate editor at MJL, worked on the set of the new CBS drama The Good Wife as an extra. The episode, “Unorthodox,” is about the Hasidic Jewish community in Chicago. It airs on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 10 EDT. I’ve protested so frequently about the portrayal of Hasidic Jews in [...]

Going Kosher at KosherFest

matthue — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:22:32 +0000

First of all: keeping kosher doesn’t necessarily mean that you eat healthier food than anyone else. It frequently means, however, that you eat weirder food than anyone else. And, at the KosherFest expo, you have a room as big as a football field, jam-packed with the newest and weirdest in food technology. We sent of Heshy [...]

The Final…5?

Jeremy Moses — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:47:16 +0000

I’m not sure if all have you have heard about the Jewish Community Heroes contest being run by the Jewish Federations of North America. With over 400 nominees, the contest had over 500,000 votes. Not a shabby number at all. After they announced the Top 20 semifinalists, they have now announced the five finalists. And proud [...]

When Food Comes Between Us

Tamar Fox — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:45:07 +0000

I’m a vegetarian, but I kiss meat-eating men pretty regularly. I’m not afraid of cooking a chicken (or a brisket, for that matter) and I won’t get grossed out or condemnatory if the conversation turns to the juiciest hamburgers in the world. I do what I do and beyond that I’m not imposing my food [...]

Jay Michaelson is God

matthue — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:42:30 +0000

…And so are you. Michaelson’s new book, Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism, is a call to arms, a kind of populist manifesto based upon the kabbalistic notion that all humans are infused with a breath of God. And, last week, he threw a party to prove it. Check out the Shemspeed video: Michaelson shone [...]

David Ostow: Punk Rock Visits the Holy Temple

David Ostow — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:52:23 +0000

David Ostow, the comic artist behind So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), and his sister, Micol Ostow, are guest-blogging all week with MyJewishLearning and Jewish Book Council. These are the first two pages of a strip I’m currently drawing with the working title “In Defense of The Irrational: A Brief and Not [...]

I Would Go to Jewish Camp for Him

Tamar Fox — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:43:04 +0000

I first saw Jeremy Fisher at a bar in Nashville. My friend Danny invited with me to go see his former camp counselor Jeremy. It was Nashville–there were dozens of places to see live music every night, and you never knew if you were in for something great, or thoroughly mediocre. Jeremy was great. Better [...]