My daughter calls me “Mama” when she’s feeling especially affectionate or especially upset. So when I picked up the phone at 6am on a Sunday morning and heard, “Mama?” I knew things were not OK. Elly is in Israel on a Birthright* trip and her credit card had been frozen. Despite my calls to the…
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Things to do in August
August time August is here and that always signals the end of summer. That means you have just about a month to do some shopping around if you want to join a synagogue this fall. If you want a buddy to go with you, just email me. I’ll set it up – I have…
Read More »Everyone is going to the SF Jewish Film Fest!
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival runs July 24 to August 7 We’ll all going to the movies! Come along. All around the bay synagogues and agencies are co-presenting various films in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. I am co-presenting Strangers, a romantic & troubling film in French, English, Hebrew and Arabic about…
Read More »Let’s go to the Movies!
Summertime, new movie releases and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival! The outreach programs in the bay area are all co-sponsoring Strangers a film about an Israeli – Palestinian love affair. Now I know that seems like an odd choice as an “interfaith” film – it wasn’t our choice. The Film Festival people suggested…
Read More »What! No Chuppah?!
What! No chuppah?! Did you (or will you) get married this week? We are making history this week! If you are one of the hundreds of LGBT couples who tied the knot this week, or are planning to, I want to wish you a Mazel Tov! But don’t stop there – if you want a…
Read More »Jewish Community for Kids
Kids at the JCC of the East Bay summer camp Last week I talked about Jewish community as a bit if an oddity sandwiched inside American culture. If you put on your anthropology hat and look at the many cultures that you encounter everyday it all begins to make sense. But for a child it’s not…
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