This article originally appeared in The Jewish News of Northern California.

A version of this essay originally appeared on Alma, 70 Faces Media’s feminist Jewish culture site.

(JTA) — In the 1980s, Dennis Neill, an employee of our family business, came out as gay to my late father, Charles Schusterman. Coming out in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the height of the AIDS crisis was a risky thing to do, and it could have cost Dennis his job. But my father embraced Dennis an…

A version of this essay originally appeared on Alma, 70 Faces Media’s feminist Jewish culture site.

(JTA) — Masks, quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing — these have become part of our everyday life. So has loneliness, misunderstanding, frustration and irritation. While these feelings may be new and unfamiliar territory for many people, they are quite familiar for those with disabi…

            One day the wind-chill got so low, most folks in Omaha were happy the covid-19 pandemic forced everyone to remain at home. I began to day dream of years long-gone and happy hours, spent reading catalogues from garden stores from all over the country.  These last years I haven’t r…

Text Messages is a column sharing wisdom from the weekly Torah portion produced with The Jewish Week. 

Text Messages is a column sharing wisdom from the weekly Torah portion produced with The Jewish Week. 

    “Is the Jewish deli the new synagogue?” Andrew Silow Carroll asked in his headline for a recent JTA article. He posed the question after speaking with author Rachel Gross, who recently published her book Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice.

Here is an interesting story:

(JTA) — A poll released last week by Monmouth University showed that 24% of Americans likely will never get the COVID-19 vaccine if they can avoid it. One hopes that as people have more information and know others who have been vaccinated without ill effects, they will change their minds. 

(JTA) — On Jan. 27, 1969, nine Jews were hanged in Tahrir Square in the center of Baghdad as half a million people looked on.  

   Much has been written during the past weeks about that mess at the Capitol. 

Even though the Jewish year doesn’t end and begin anew in a few days, it’s difficult not to feel a sense of closure when December 31 rolls around. It comes with the territory and besides, we are all eager to see this year come to an end.

(JTA) — If you would have asked me before Passover — as I packed matzah and other items for Jews preparing to experience their first Seder alone at home — whether we would need to rethink Hanukkah celebrations, I would have laughed you off. December felt a lifetime away and most of us assume…

    The photo was taken December 1, 1931. The text on the back reads:

(JTA) — Just before Thanksgiving, a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court forbade the state of New York from enforcing 10- or 25-person occupancy limits on religious organizations in places where COVID-19 cases are at their highest. In the case of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo…

This story originally appeared in Alma.

   It’s Thanksgiving week, which normally comes with a pretty standard set of rules. You plan an extensive menu that should include Turkey and pumpkin pie. There should also be cranberries, yams with marshmallows and something called ‘green bean casserole.’ Then you invite friends and family…

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(JTA) — Before I met him, I saw Benjamin McDowell’s name in the news. Inspired by Dylann Roof, the notorious shooter responsible for the Charleston church massacre, he planned an attack on a synagogue that was thwarted by FBI agents.

This article originally appeared in Alma.

(JTA) — Like many progressives in America, as soon as Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court Monday night, my social media feeds erupted with anger over the process and fear that her appointment could presage a rollback of marriage equality.

(JTA) — Two years ago, a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh with hate in his heart and bigotry in his soul. Beset by a false sense of grievance and an imagined threat, he murdered 11 peaceful souls at prayer, taking age-old anti-Semitism to its most vile conclusion. We w…

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   During the week leading up to the 2020 election, I need a distraction and so I find myself making etrog jam. As I carefully pull each seed from the etrog, it occurs to me how being in the kitchen ties me to generations of Jews. Every year, we baby that fruit for the duration of Sukkot, we…

This article originally appeared in The Nosher.

    Jews do not speak in a political monologue. Like so many misconceptions, putting Jews, a broad, cultural or religious identity, into a political box is wrong and approaching bigotry.

    Let’s face it: we’re not all so very nice to each other these days. After several years of hearing the word “partisan” a few times too often, we just can’t figure out how to get along anymore. And that pesky neighbor just put a political sign in his front yard for a candidate you  don’t …

(JTA) — It’s been seven months since we collectively adopted the term “social distance” to mean a specific geographic space between people. But those words took on a new meaning to me when I looked at my phone on Wednesday morning.

    It took most of Thursday morning to write 2/3 of an op-ed, which I subsequently threw in the garbage. I’m not even sure I remember what I wrote—that’s how boring and listless it was.

This piece originally appeared on Kveller.

Once again, well-funded casino operators want to change Nebraska’s constitution to allow casino gambling. The change would allow all forms of gambling across the state, from slot machines to online sports betting. And such a constitutional change immediately empowers Nebraska’s three tribes …

This article originally appeared in Kveller.

(JTA) — My father died two years ago, two days before Rosh Hashanah. My sister Laura, my aunt Judy and I had flown out to Palm Springs a few days before to be at his bedside. Along with my dad’s partner, Tony, we were with him when he passed.

(JTA) — I don’t need to remind you of all the reasons that 2020 has been an incredibly rough year. We could all use a fresh start, so it’s a good thing that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is just around the corner, offering a chance for renewal and a new beginning.

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A few weeks ago the Omaha World Herald ran an excellent article written by one of their best reporters, Cindy Gonzalez, on the renovations undertaken by the Jewish Federation of Omaha at its complex in West Omaha on South 132nd Street.

This article originally appeared in Kveller.

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It has already begun. Leaks about “allies” warning Joe Biden about naming Kamala Harris as his running mate because she “had no remorse” for the gall of actually competing in the primaries. Or comments that Harris “rubs people the wrong way” but that Karen Bass doesn’t. Or…

    It was a confusing sight, at best: the August 1 rally in Berlin featured both people protesting against COVID-19 restrictions by comparing them to Nazi-rules, and actual neo-Nazis. Mask mandates, vaccines and  perceived government overreach are bad because it reminds people of Nazis. And…

When I found out that I belong to Generation Z instead of being a Millennial, I was shocked. At first, I thought, all the older generations’ criticisms about millennials don’t apply to me anymore! But then I noticed that people are already insulting my up-and-coming generation.

A pandemic, an election year, racial tensions, federal troops descending on cities, muggy hot weather and lots of anxiety for everyone to share: it sounds like the perfect time for a robust conspiracy to make the rounds.