Intimacy and Marriage, and Sexual Ethics
(This is part 3 in my series, “What I Want My Teenage Daughters to Know about Sex.” Click here to read it from the beginning.) Yes, you heard me right: Getting married has nothing to do with getting pregnant, and getting pregnant has only a passing connection to sex. You might think then that I […]
The Very First Wife Swap
(This is part 3 in my series on 1 Corinthians 5. Click here to read from the beginning.) Most of us probably imagine the first swingers as 1960’s hippies in a free-love commune. But in fact, it started earlier than that, in World War II. Christopher Ryan explains: It seems that the original modern American swingers were […]
A Little Truth Would Go a Long Way
(This is part 2 in my series on 1 Corinthians 5. Click here to read from the beginning.) One marvels at the repetition of intentionally tragic stories, like Evergreene’s: After her Christian marriage ended in divorce, and after she slogged through the concomitant depression, she decided she’d be happier living a bisexual, polyamorous lifestyle. She hid her […]
Removing the Leaven from Passover
The Passover stuff is already out at the grocery store. At the other end of the store, an even greater selection of pastel-colored candy and related items. But Pesach is still several weeks away, and first I have another bat mitzvah to think of. My Beloved will finally herself be called to the Torah in […]
Should We Merry Merry Be?
Oh, once there was a wicked, wicked man And Haman was his name sir, He would have murdered all the Jews, Though they were not to blame sir Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be And nosh some hamantashen. I posted a link to […]
The Curious Story of Tamar
Matthew begins his gospel by breaking the rules. It’s not so much that he includes a boring genealogy that breaks the rules—although from a storytelling perspective, starting with a boring genealogy certainly breaks the storytelling rules. To the ancient Jews, genealogies were very important, and they pop up throughout the Bible. Rather, it’s the way […]
Bits & Pieces 2012-12-27
Links and things that I’ve run across recently. The Most Important Lesson I Learned This Christmas Give the gift you would most like to have for the Yankee Swap. That way, when you get stuck with it at the end, you won’t be so disappointed. If You Forgot to Get Holiday Gifts for Your Favorite […]
Is It Ethical for Me to Use My First Name?
In preparation for my daughters’ bnot mitzvah, I’ve had to order several items from online Judaica stores. When placing the latest order, I realized—in one of those flashes of the obvious that I had previously been blocking from my cognizance… I realized that I had been using my first name, Jonathan, because it’s a good, […]