Jason Segel, star of How I Met Your Mother (and various films) is the son of a Christian mother and a Jewish father. Segel was recently interviewed on Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF. About 15 minutes into the podcast the subject of religion comes up. For the next 5 minutes Jason pokes gentle fun at…
Read More »Rabbi Milder of Beth Emek in Pleasanton sent out an email to his congregation last Friday reminding them of the importance of food – as a gesture of hospitality, as a social mixer, as a gesture of caring. Here’s what he had to say: Shabbat services don’t feel complete without Oneg Shabbat. It’s like dinner…
Read More »The High Holidays are coming: Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sept. 13 Tomorrow is the first day of August; that means the High Holy Days are getting very near. For those who joined this group in the last 11 months let me repeat my annual admonition: DO NOT make the High Holidays your non-Jewish…
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(Originally appeared July 2015 in Mixed and Matched column of the J-Weekly) Recently a woman wrote to me about her first experience with death and shiva as a Jew. Here’s what she said: I am a recent convert and a single mother. My sister died recently. When I got the news, I was paralyzed…
Read More »The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival began its 2015 season last Thursday and they have their usual fabulous line up of films. I’ve told you in the past that it was suggested to me that I cosponsor films about Jewish & Muslim couples, typically living in Israel or Europe. But that topic doesn’t apply to…
Read More »I love this article by Cantor Chabon of B’nai Tikvah in Walnut Creek. Have you ever heard of ‘lamed vavniks’? No? Read on. A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I took our boys on a family trip to Portland for a few days. We rarely have free weekends to travel together because of Shabbat,…
Read More »Our weekly email goes out to hundreds of interfaith couples & families in the Bay Area. Topics cover the many questions and mysteries that interfaith couples want answered.