I was acquainted with Candye Kane and her body of work in my previous life. I saw her play the piano with her breasts at the World Pornography Conference in 1998. She was one tough act to follow. She too has beaten a path to Torah and enlightenment. The San Diego Union Tribune reports: Although Kane...

While watching the inauguration of the new U.S. president at the American Cultural Center with a bunch of other expats, I had this wonderful feeling that the U.S. had finally done its tikkun (spiritual repair work)for the way African-Americans were treated way back when. I saw much pride in the face...

Black humor is good for getting through a crisis. Thank God for the members of Israeli satire troupe Eretz Nehederet ("A Wonderful Country" -- read more in this 2006 New York Times article.) One of their most recent creations is the faux hiphop group X-Plain and their parodic video for &qu...

I haven't had a crafty post in quite a while so, here is the latest news. It's 80 degrees F and gorgeous in L.A. with no reports of a cool down. Must be time to start planting!!! Despite my backyard being a total disaster (my fault entirely), I am, as part of this weekend's MLK National Weekend of S...

This morning I attended a panel discussion called "Being in the World, Being With God: The Rabbi as Citizen in the Midst of World Crisis," featuring my beloved teachers Rabbi Burt Jacobson, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and Rabbi Tirzah Firestone. Reb Burt spoke about the Baal Shem Tov and how the ...

The conference's last formal session, Beyond Guantanamo: Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture, featured Gita Gutierrez of the Center for Constitutional Rights alongside attorney Tom Wilner (read his essay A Righteous Indignation in US News and World Report.) Both of them work to defend prisoners who ar...

It's all about the change-y hope around here parts. Because of so many donations, I am heading over to the Jeff Griffith Youth Center on Friday! Fully 32 days before my deadline with two lawn and leaf bags full of underwear, socks, washcloths, bras, shower gel, soap, mouthwash, sweatshirts, socks, a...

Good morning everyone! It is a new day here in America and I am feeling it. The photos and speeches have made me cry (ME!!! I know!!!) and I can't get enough of the hope. In that vein, I know we're all going to have to do our part to help this country heal. In honor of our President-Elect Barack Oba...

I went to synagogue starting in about the 3rd or 4th grade and we always attended services for Yom Kippur, both evening and all day. (in addition to Shabbat, Rosh Hashana, Purim, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and others...) I don't remember much about the rest of the holidays (though I loved Simchat Torah)...

I'm having an amazing summer. Jerusalem is, in my friend Megan's words, "catnip for liberal rabbis," and it's possible to have experiences here that one can't really have anywhere else. Davening at the Kotel, walking the streets of the Old City, learning from and with rabbis from across the Jewish s...