
Mourning My Faith
Last night began the Jewish holiday of Purim. This is a celebration of the book of Esther. The last time I celebrated it was when I was still a member of a Messianic Jewish congregation two years ago, before I came out as an atheist, long before I came out as polyamorous. It was even […]

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 […]
A Wicked, Wicked Man (video)
At our synagogue, we have yet to do a pirate-themed Purim spiel, inspired by Edward Kritzler’s history of Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. (And that is a true fact.)

Easy to Be a Good Customer
When I first met Jeffrey Tanner, fictional costar of my short story “The Widow’s Granddaughter,” he told me, “Nice guys finish last.” I didn’t believe him then, and I still think he was seriously misguided. Fortunately, that character discovered that there is much more to life than alpha-male-ism. What an appropriate memory for the days […]

Wearing Haman’s Hat
This past Saturday night began the Jewish holiday of Purim. Since Saturday was also the Sabbath, after morning services and lunch at our synagogue, we had games for the kids, crafts, a class on the book of Esther, a Jewish folk dancing class, pizza. Then we had evening services, followed by reading the story of […]