When I was growing up, I remember going to SMU homecoming football game against the University of Texas. We were asked to” bow our heads in the name of Jesus Christ” and offer a prayer. I didn’t like it, and I didn’t bow my head; but I also did not bat an eye. This was, […]
I had gone to Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School to give a talk to Fallon Coffield’s 8th grade social studies class. I spoke about my career in newspapers and magazines, gave a short overview of how you structure a news story and then let the students interview one another, write a lead for a profile […]
Shavuot is for many a forgotten holiday. If you are not observant, it most likely isn’t on your radar. You might forget shul altogether. You may go to work. If you’re a bit more tuned in, you might eat cheesecake. But I’m guessing that would be it. I don’t remember doing anything special for Shavuot […]
It should come as no surprise that I’d be into Purim in a big way. After all, my parents, having blessed me at birth with the fusty name of Marla Estelle, also bestowed upon me the incredibly unoriginal Hebrew moniker, Malka Esther. Yes, as in Queen Esther, heroine of the Purim story. So let’s just […]
I am starting to think about The Dress. Not just any dress, but the dress that my daughter will wear to shul when she becomes a bat mitzvah. The dress, of course, must be perfect, pretty and in Lily’s case, not pink. It also must be different, dazzling and make her feel divine. That’s a […]
In the first weeks of saying kaddish for my father, the sun still hung below the horizon when I’d wake to go to minyan. I’m just now out of sheloshim, the first thirty days of mourning proscribed by Jewish law, and now, instead, the morning sky is the cold milky white of late winter. Watching […]
A Jewish boy comes home from school and tells his mother that he’s been cast in the school play. “That’s wonderful. What part do you have?” she asks. The boy says, “I’m playing the part of the Jewish husband!” The mother scowls and says, “Go back and tell the teacher you want a speaking part.” And […]
When I was a kid, I was completely fascinated with Christmas trees. I am sure this was because they were off-limits in our house —as in, “There’s no such thing as a Chanukah bush. Period.”My friends’ trees were so beautiful, however, that they were hard to resist. The lights, the glass ornaments, the miniature animals […]
