14 Dec, 2018

Giving Up Christmas

2021-01-03T17:25:30-06:00December 14th, 2018|Tags: |

Christmas at the Hemingway Birthplace Home where I was fortunate to have been writer-in-residence four years ago! Giving up Christmas is one of the advantages of converting to [...]

30 Mar, 2018

Passover Recipes

2021-01-03T17:25:53-06:00March 30th, 2018|Tags: , , |

Passover is, after Rosh Hashana, my favorite Jewish holiday--mainly because it is all about home and family--and I love it despite, or maybe because of, all the work involved. Hosting [...]

25 Dec, 2015

From the Christkindlmarket

2021-01-03T17:26:59-06:00December 25th, 2015|Tags: , |

From my traditional annual visit to Chicago's downtown Christkindlmarket, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! It's been unseasonably warm here, no snow flakes and icy cold to company my sipping [...]

22 Sep, 2015

Kol Nidre

2021-01-03T17:27:08-06:00September 22nd, 2015|Tags: , |

Women praying at the Wailing WallJerusalem, August 2015 Yom Kippur begins tonight with the Kol Nidre service. My essay on Kol Nidre was published two years ago, and it still captures, probably [...]

17 Dec, 2014

Happy Chanukah!

2021-01-03T17:27:33-06:00December 17th, 2014|Tags: , , |

Yesterday was the first night of Chanukah, quite appropriate for my family's annual visit to Chicago's Christkindlmarket downtown, thanks to Chabad Lubavitch's giant Menorah. At the Christkindlmarket we stock up [...]

3 Oct, 2014

In Awe of Kol Nidre

2021-01-03T17:27:54-06:00October 3rd, 2014|Tags: , |

Stained glass window front at Chicago Loop Synagogue My essay on Kol Nidre was published a year ago, and on the eve of another Yom Kippur it is as relevant [...]

24 Apr, 2014

Joy is…

2021-01-03T17:28:31-06:00April 24th, 2014|Tags: , , |

Detail of our Passover Seder table before the festivities begin ...singing the traditional silly folk songs with my kids at the end of the Passover Seder. We have our own [...]

24 Dec, 2013

My Quandary with Christmas Music

2021-01-03T17:28:51-06:00December 24th, 2013|Tags: |

First of all: Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! Secondly, my essay about my very own quandary with Christmas music, "Can a Jew Love Christmas Music?" appeared today in Tablet [...]

13 Sep, 2013

My Ode to Kol Nidre

2021-01-03T17:29:01-06:00September 13th, 2013|Tags: , |

Chicago Loop Synagogue Window Detail ...was published yesterday in Tablet Magazine: Kol Nidre Showed Me... Meanwhile I am looking forward Yom Kippur and am basking, just a little bit, in [...]

Go to Top