It’s a little hard to take the electoral process seriously with people like Puff Daddy reminding me to “Vote or Die.”
There he is on television, along with a gaggle of celebrity friends, urging me to vote. This is done mostly through t-shirts bearing the threatening slogan, but also through hip-hop music, which we all know [...]

Whenever people ask me what Yom Kippur is about, I always tell them it’s the Jewish holiday for feeling bad about yourself. Every religion has one of these, seemingly; often they involve not eating or giving up some small luxury (see Lent, diet coke, in the case of my old boss). If you watch public [...]

No post today. Those two things are not necessarily related.

You know, I always knew the war in Chechnya would come to this – children held hostage in a school – but I didn’t think it would take so long. I mean, children have been the biggest obstacles to Chechen independence for over a decade. Their repressive tactics and gross human rights abuses don’t justify [...]

And now, in honor of my brother Grisha, who is at camp, I will proceed to embarrass myself:
If you are Jewish, as I am, at some point in your life someone will decide it\’s a good idea for you to go to Jewish camp. It\’s like the chicken pox, if you\’re lucky, it will happen [...]

There are Christians, I\’m sure, who, finding themselves on the side of a highway with a flat tire, have asked \”What Would Jesus Do?\” and were serious about it.
There are also Christians (many more of them, I think) who, in the same circumstances, have asked the same question as a joke, and then wiped the [...]

That\’s what it would be called if we celebrated Passover on a bridge above a highway.
Luckily, my family long ago abandoned that ritual. We now eat indoors, at the table, in a clean and pleasant environment.
Or, we did, until this year. That\’s because my mom\’s house – where we normally celebrate – is under heavy [...]

Wednesday night on NPR there was a report on the reactions of people in Iraq to the horrific bombings that happened on Tuesday, in which hundreds of Shiite Muslims were killed outside of shrines in Baghdad and Karbala.
The reporter (Steve Inskeep) said the attacks had caused much anger, and that some religious leaders were calling [...]

God hates shrimp
God hates figs
God hates cartoons
God hates mobile homes
God hates right angles
God Hates compromise(I would too, if I were God)
On the other hand, Bill Safire doesn\’t like Mel Gibson, so I guess that evens things out.

What if Mel Gibson\’s already famous/infamous film, \”The Pasion\”, just doesn\’t turn out to be a big deal? I think that would be the most interesting outcome; lots of people rush out to see it (I probably will), and it\’s just underwhelming.
Oh I know, I \’ve heard people say that nobody, NO BODY, will leave [...]