Melyssa-with-a-Y

Last week, a gunman entered a LGBT Center in Tel Aviv and killed two people, and wounded a dozen more. Unfortunately, violence in Israel isn't exactly unusual, and while I frequently get choked up about it, this one was different. Because of Aubrey, I know a lot about the LGBT community in Austin (and have spent plenty of time in gay bars!), including the existence of Out Youth , which is an outreach center for young people, exactly like the one that was attacked in Tel Aviv. I went to their prom! --> Tonight, Out Youth, together with other LGBT community organizations and the Jewish Community Association of Austin, co-sponsored a vigil at City Hall to honor the victims in Tel Aviv. I had to go. When I started thinking about the whole situation earlier in the day, I started to cry. There is certainly no question that what happened in Tel Aviv was horrible. Any shooting, and particularly the shooting of children, is tragic. But even moreso because, of all of the places in ...

I am trying to keep Pesach this year. I get almost all the way through the week every year, but after about five days or so, I invariably put something in my mouth and start chewing before I realize it's a no-no. But, I definitely do my best at home. I moved all of my chametz into a couple of bags and put them away in the closet. I have been eating "matzah-and-" everything I would normally eat, so it's matzah and sun butter for breakfast, matzah and sliced turkey for lunch... etc. And some leftover matzoh ball soup (don't ask me why I spell the crackers with an "a" and the balls with an "o" - I don't know!) ... and haroset... it hasn't been too difficult yet. Tonight I decided to cook one of the new Passover product s I found- Kosher for Passover cous cous , to go along with a really neat recipe for chicken with asparagus . All I can say is, one of these recipes worked very well and is delicious. The other one, not so much. Can you gu...

Sitting at National airport, watching USC basketball and waiting for my flight back to Austin, a lady walked by my table and made what she called a "strange request" -- she asked if she could use my laptop really quickly to send a note to her boss. I figured, what the heck, she looks nice, and it's good karma. And I know the feeling - though it hasn't happened to me since I got my blackjack last year. She sat down and started typing, and we chatted a bit... it turns out she is going to Israel to visit her son. She didn't bring her blackberry because she doesn't have international service on it, and she really needed to send an email. I mentioned that I hadn't been to Israel since my bat mitzvah, and we had a laugh about "Jew-dar." :) She told me she'd be at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem tomorrow, and would say a prayer for me. So there you go, I'd say that's good karma!

On the anniversary of the day that the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz in 1945 (see video below), I was treated to a story on NPR this morning about the Bishop that was "un-excommunicated" by the Pope this week. Bishop Richard Williamson has been -- recently, not just in the past -- quoted as saying there's no historical evidence that 6 million Jews died in WWII. Bishop Williamson, who has said that the Vatican is controlled by Satan and that the Jews are bent on world domination, reiterated in a broadcast last week on Swedish television that the historical evidence was “hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers”. I'm sorry, WHAT?!? and he gets to be a Bishop in the Catholic Church? The way the current pope is reversing Vatican II, I'd say the "heretics" in Europe had better watch out - the Spanish Inquisition may be poised for a comeback! But...

Have you seen the "Boom dee-ah-dah" commercials for Discovery? Here's a stage version, with Mike Rowe, Bear Grylls, Ben Bailey and the Deadliest Catch captains (yay!)... and another guy I don't recognize (with good hair). Update: I have now been educated. The guy with the good hair is Josh Bernstein, formerly of the History Channel's "Digging for the Truth." He's moved over to Discovery, but I don't think his new show has started yet. Yes, he's a nice Jewish boy, but apparently he's looking for a "tall blond Jewish girl who is interested in the environment." As Eliz. says, we'll have to figure out how to make me taller. The hair dying is easy! Of course, I also have no urge to live in a yurt in Utah, so that might be a challenge. ;)

Paulie brought me a white rose today, that he'd gotten down on main campus. Attached to it was a tag outlining the White Rose Society , a project of UT's Hillel group. The card talks about the 10,000 people who died every day at Auschwitz. There's a conference next week about human rights, and specifically about the genocide in Darfur**. Being the sap that I am, I got emotional. I am absolutely conscious of the fact that, in Europe ~70 years ago, I would have been put on a rail car and shipped off to the gas chambers like everybody else - I would have been one of those 10,000. I studied World War II and the Holocaust in-depth in college, and visited Terezin when I was in the Czech Republic with mom in 1994. There are whole towns in Poland that simply don't exist any more because all of the people were wiped out by the Nazis. That to me is one of the most powerful parts of the Holocaust Museum in DC - you walk down a hallway, and the names of these towns are etched in ...

I don't think I've ever written about Israel on the blog before: how much it pains me when I read about Israeli soldiers and civilians dying, how connected I feel to a place I've only visited once (20+ years ago), and how important it is that Israel continues to be a strong force for democracy in the Middle East. On the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, much is being written on these topics. After Rosh Hashanah last year, I signed up for "10 minutes of Torah," a daily email from the Union of Reform Judaism. Sometimes the emails are a quick read (the definition of a Hebrew word, in today's context) and some of them are gripping. This week's emails have been the latter. Wednesday's post, by Rabbi Robert Orkand, was entitled "Why Israel Matters to Me." While I didn't grow up in the 50's and 60's, my attitude toward Israel (3rd paragraph, below) is identical. In those days before email and relatively easy air t...

Oh, to have been in DC on Monday when the author of Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People spoke at the American Enterprise Institute. The discussion centered around the supposed genetic predisposition of Jewish people to be smarty-pants. (That's a very technical term, you know!) :) The average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews is 107 to 115, well above the human average of 100. But what if the genes that make us smart also make us sick? I never thought about it this way, but the Jewish population of the world is one of the most in-bred groups in existence. Makes sense, though, with all of our mothers urging us to find a "nice Jewish boy," or avoid the "shiksas." ;) The question is, are we all smart because our genetics have made that happen? Or are we smart because the Jewish culture & religion place a heavy value on study and learning? Or is it a combination of both? And are we smarter at the expense of being less coordinated? or...

Two interesting news tidbits today: First, the heroes. An interesting interview in Wired with the author of the forthcoming book, Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero . In case you didn't know, Jewish comics creators and co-creators include Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel(Superman); Bob Kane and Bill Finger (Batman); Will Eisner (The Spirit); Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, the X-Men); Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (Captain America); and of course Stan Lee (who helped create Spider-Man and a whole bunch of others). It's an interesting look into why so many of these guys got into comic-book-making, and how their background influenced them. Now, the villain. Glenn Beck seems to think that Al Gore and Adolf Hitler have a lot in common : "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the Un...

And now, children, it's time for a short lesson to "expand your horizons": learn to use Yiddish words in your daily life! The Times Online gives you the top 10 most useful Yiddish words . (Can't say I totally agree with the spelling, but it is a British publication...) Bonus points if you recognize #4 and #5 from Laverne & Shirley. :) And speaking of chutzpah, it was one year ago today that cousin M and I set off on our 1,500 mile odyssey to get from DC to Austin! Time flies when you're having fun!

What a great little video on YouTube ! Instructions on the best way to break your piece of matzah exactly in half, to make the perfect sandwich (with what looks like nutella - yum!) And even more Passover fun -- bunny Peeps demonstrating the ten plagues . (ok, not really "fun", but very funny.) :)

First comes the news that, according to some Rabbis in Europe, pot should not be smoked at Passover . D'oh! I know the rules about not eating bread, or anything with leavening (or anything that puffs up when you cook it, like corn or rice), but the rabbis saw fit to add hemp seeds to the list, so marijuana is definitely out. [Besides, would you really want to have the munchies during a week when tortilla chips are prohibited? I didn't think so.] Then, it seems that an enterprising Rabbi in New York decided to turn a school bus into a matzah oven . Seems he's been using it for a few years -- and as long as he can recruit an engineer to help him set it up, and move it 10 ft. away from the house, he can go back to using it! Oy vey. Most matzah tastes bad enough without the added aroma of old school bus. Finally, if you have little kids coming to your Seder, and you need a cute way to explain the 10 plagues on Egypt (heh. I used "cute" and "plagues" in the ...

Saturday night was our monthly Supper Club dinner. We hemmed and hawed about a topic for weeks, from Irish foods (corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, beer....) to "Hamburger and Pickle Month," before we settled on Easter and Passover foods. I made a wonderful Moroccan Lamb dish that I originally discovered in mom's New York Times Passover cookbook. It's like Passover lasagna - layer of matzah, then ground lamb with tomatoes and spices, then roasted eggplant slices, and repeat. It's pretty labor-intensive, since the ingredients have to be cooked before you layer them. (I have noticed that I manage to pick the most labor-intensive dishes for supper club!) I held on to the recipe because the lamb with tomatoes filling is really tasty, and I thought I would make it even when it wasn't Passover. Hm. I forgot that ground lamb is not inexpensive. The rest of the menu: devilled eggs and kulich (Russian Easter bread), smoked fish spreads (with matzoh), mini macaro...

More on the "men vs. women" front, though this time not directly related to Judaism: LiveScience has published an article about how women choose the men they want to have 'flings' with vs. the ones they would marry. Overwhelmingly, participants said those with more masculine features were likely to be risky and competitive and also more apt to fight, challenge bosses, cheat on spouses and put less effort into parenting. Those with more feminine faces were seen as good parents and husbands, hard workers and emotionally supportive mates [ compare examples ]. They also link to an article that says that "fighting for a mate" makes men more apt to die sooner . "excessive risk taking, aggression, and the suppression of emotions by boys and young men" [are] directly related to lower life expectancy in men. If I'm reading this right, basically, if a woman chooses to marry the really high-testosterone and super-handsome (though not necessarily Mr. Ris...

The Austin JCC is offering an Empowerment Workshop for Jewish Women next week. I hate to state the obvious, but this seems unnecessary (especially if you believe the stereotypes)... shouldn't they be offering an empowerment workshop for Jewish MEN ? hee hee * If you raised your right arm and heard the 'He-Man' theme in your head when you read these words, you're a child of the 80's, just like me. (Ahem. Not only is there a website , it seems a movie version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is in the works! ACK!)

I have been trying to ignore stories about last week's Iranian conference on whether the Holocaust actually took place or not. (We all know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a nutcase.) This article in the LA Times really puts this conference into perspective. According to this emigree from Somalia, it's not that all Muslims deny the Holocaust - they are simply oblivious. They've never been taught about the mass murder of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents, (or for that matter anyone Hitler didn't like)... or seen pictures of the gas chambers, the cattle cars, the piles of suitcases and shoes and hair. As this writer suggests, they are being fed propaganda, not unlike Josef Goebbels' efforts, telling them that Jews are evil. Yes, there are still people in this great melting-pot of a country who have 'issues' with Jews (and why are there Jews in Hollywood who have forgiven Mel Gibson for his idiotic rant?!?) but for the most part, we're left alon...

I realized today that I have been taking pics but not uploading them, so here's the rundown. It's nothing terribly exciting. Two weeks ago when it was really cold around here, I broke out my new hot cocoa. I bought the "marshmallow lovers" low-fat Swiss Miss. Let me tell you, they aren't kidding when they say marshmallow lovers. Each serving is two packets - one is the hot cocoa powder, and the other is all mini-marshmallows ! I had to take a picture. It was soooooooo yummy. For the past week, my tv has been slowly dying (in fact, as mom reminded me, it was already starting to go south when she was here two months ago!) . I've had that set for ten years - it survived moving from Arlington to Chevy Chase and back to Arlington, and then to Austin. I spent the past week jumping up off the sofa to go whack one side of it or the other to keep the picture going. Finally, last night, I gave up and went to Circuit City. Complicating things, I have a tv unit that has a...

Now I know why Brian Williams said election night was "like catnip, like crack!" -- It's so exciting that the world can change like this. The American people decided that they've had enough of the Republican control of the government, and the Dems will now control the House and the Senate. (It was touch-and-go there for a while, but Jim Webb managed to pull ahead by about 8,000 votes in VA. Senator Allen decided not to ask for a recount.) First thing President Bush did - let Rumsfeld resign so he can become the scapegoat for the war in Iraq. And try to rush through Bolton's confirmation before the lame duck session ends. In other news, Ed Bradley died of leukemia . I always liked his reports on 60 Minutes. He was the old, hip guy with the earring who did the great interviews - Michael Jordan, Lena Horne, etc. He seemed so gentle and caring, and yet he asked really tough questions and everybody answered them. Tonight I went to the Jewish Book Fair's Local Auth...

I went to an event this evening at the LBJ Library (I will have to go back and see the exhibits, there wasn't time tonight!) with the author of "Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World." Kati Marton is originally from Budapest, as are the nine Jewish scientists, filmmakers and authors that she chronicled. It's an interesting story -- the nine men came to the US when the Nazis were gaining power in Europe. These scientists helped convince Einstein to sign a letter (which they had written) to FDR to get the US to start developing the atomic bomb -- before the Germans could do it. I had heard before that Einstein was a pacifist, and that he regretted sending the letter for the rest of his life. But Marton provided the convincing argument that had swayed Einstein's decision - what if Hitler had gotten there first? How different would the world be if the Nazis had had a bomb to drop? That was a little scary. I thought of the Budapest that mom and...