Rabbi Eleanor Steinman

I’m confused.  I remember Halloween taking place on October 31, as a kid I remember trick-or-treating, the Halloween parade at school, and carving pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds.  I have zero recollection of Halloween greeting cards, wearing costumes for a week, and it being in any way acceptable to stop regularly scheduled activities (like Sunday School!) for Halloween.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids walking around in costumes and stuff is very cute.  I even understand a Halloween party the night before (it is so Jewish to start holidays the evening before) especially on a Sunday.

It has gone too far.  Looking around the Sunday School today it seems that numbers might be slightly down (this is unofficial).  Of the 13 grade 10 students I prepared to teach, only three showed up.

The commercialization of every celebration, no matter how big or small is horrifying to me.  Are we really modeling something to the next generation or are we preparing them to rebel against us?

My favorite Halloween tradition is the one that I learned about in Spanish class every year, Dia de los Muertos (I know there should be some accents in there).  This is actually the origin of Halloween to some extent and has deep important meaning for the families that go to the cemeteries and remember the deceased in preparation for tomorrow, All Saints Day.  These celebrations are not part of my faith or cultural tradition but I think they are very interesting to learn about.

So, Happy Halloween, I guess.  Please let it be over when it is over.  Oh, and happy November!

Happy birthday to the best father I’ve ever had (yes he’s the only one, too).  In honor of your birthday, I’m going to write a list of 29 reasons I love you!  (Why anyone in my family couldn’t be born at the beginning of a month is beyond me!)

1.  You like to spontaneously call in the middle of the day just to say ‘hi’.

2.  You are a devoted father and ensured that THE DIVA and I were independent women and knew how to do things like fix toilets and check the oil.

3.  You are really good and researching purchases (specifically electronics) and ensuring that you get the device you really want.  I make no comment about using said devices.

4.  When I was little (we’re talking really little) you used to take me on dates and not get mad when I would eat only the cucumber out of a cucumber roll.

5.  You think you’re really funny.  Sometimes you are.

6.  You’ve become a professional volunteer in your retirement, a reminder to everyone that perhaps the real reason to work is to be able to retired and give back to community.

7.  We are both left-handed ensuring equality at our family dinner table.

8.  You are always concerned there will be something on the menu for me to eat.

9.  You are immensely talented and creative.  Your latest foray into the world of ceramics is a testament to this!

10.  No one can worry as effectively as you.

11.  You LOVE to read and always know a good book.

12.  Though I did not attend a university with a football team, you ensured that I know who to root for at all times.  Fight on USC!

13.  Once, THE DIVA and I found your secret stash of candy and we hid it from you.  You didn’t get ‘mad’ and you never got even 🙂

14.  No one can pretend to detract squirrels from a bird feeder as effectively as you.

15.  There is not a coat that exists in the world that you don’t want to own (yes this man has more coats than anyone I have ever met).

16.  You are really good with children and they flock to be around you.

17.  We used to make the best chocolate chip cookies together (this was long ago) and you made sure that THE DIVA and I got equal parts of the batter.

18.  You have exceptional taste.

19.  You are an excellent nurse.  I know it from when I had my ACL replacement.

20.  You are the king of schmoozing.

21.  You are really good at driving the speed limit.

22.  True story: “I went to see _____ movie.  I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark.  When the movie was over.  I realized I still had my sunglasses on.”  Hilarious!

23.  You are really good at trivial pursuit.  Really any game that requires lots of knowledge about random things.   You passed this skill on to me.

24.  You lived in Japan for a year.  This is cool because it meant we were eating sushi before it was trendy, and you can spy on Japanese people and tell us what they’re saying.

25.  You really like getting your back scratched and shoulders rubbed.

26.  In 1984 you took me to the Olympics in Los Angeles to see women’s team finals.  You got to see lots of other cool things, too.

27.  You’re fun to go on a road trip with, especially when you spring for massages.

28.  You wrote me my very own lullaby.

29.  Since later today it will also be Shabbat, I am comfortable telling the world that you created the phrase “Shabbat Salami.”

So Shabbat Salami, Dad!  I love you!

Today was a very sad, yet simultaneously happy day.  It was the final day of the Pri Adamah season.  As you probably know, Pri Adamah is the Temple Sinai Community Supported Agriculture program that I have blogged about before.  It was sad because it was the last day of four months of an amazing opportunity to walk outside and find amazingly fresh, organic, locally grown, beautiful produce.  It was also immensely happy because it has been such a wonderful experience for me personally, for all of the Pri Adamah members, the volunteers who helped, for our farmer Daniel Hoffman and his team, and for the Social Action committee that worked tirelessly to make this project a reality for our community.

Don’t fret Temple Sinai and Pri Adamah!  The social action committee is already thinking about next season.  Only 8 more months until next season starts!

(If you have positive things to say about Pri Adamah, please feel free to comment on this post or email me privately.  It will help the committee with recruitment for next year!)

Torontonians, today is the day!  There are only 3 reasons you should not vote today:

1. You already voted.
2. You are not a citizen of Canada (like me).
3. You are not of age.

So get out and do it!

There is a great article in The New Yorker.  Here is the most interesting part.

Polls show that Americans have also become steadily more critical of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted earlier this year, seventy-five per cent of Americans think that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly. (The same poll showed sixty-two per cent in favor in 2001, and forty-four per cent in 1993.)

15 years ago (according to the Hebrew calendar) today I was doing my brief foray in retail sales.  I got home in the afternoon to my mom sitting in front of the television.  She told me that Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated.  It was the year several of my friends and I were traveling to Israel as part of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel program and I thought immediately of my friend David who was there.  I prayed for his safety even as I felt numb to the fact that this man, whatever his faults, was killed by another Jewish person for attempting to make peace.

I’m pretty sure I have the newspaper from the next day with the headline of the assassination.  I remember thinking, “I will always remember where I was when I heard this news.”

It seems ironic to think about that 15 years later.  I have lots of ‘what if’ kinds of questions.  I think that we all do and if we don’t we should.  But not today.  Today we should remember a man who showed us that another way might be possible.  One who was dedicated to his country, to our beloved State of Israel and to an idea that peace might be a reality if we stop fighting and start talking.

Zecher tzadik livracha – May the memory of the righteous be a blessing.

Hello blogosphere.  It has been awhile.  I am not sure why I haven’t been writing and perhaps there is no good reason.  Sure work has been busy.

I was in New York City (technically just Newark, NJ) for a nanosecond for a CCAR meeting.

I got a new wii game (Super Mario Bros., anyone?).

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Netflix CD so that I can stream movies to my television. 

I have taken a new liking to bubble tea.  I’m not sure why it is so satisfying to chew my drink but it is.  Don’t worry, eventually I will find this idea repugnant again.

I have read a bunch of good books and I even read last week’s New Yorker before this weeks edition arrived.  Don’t worry.  I still have the new Vanity Fair and several weeks of The Forward that are piling up.

I bought more k-cups and I’m happy to report they’re working on making them more green.

When I was in New York with the grade 10 students I bought 3 packs of Biblical Bandz (Jewish silly bandz).  I have them spread out on the table in my office.  I notice that more people are now stopping by my office.  Is it because I give away the bandz?

I am completely enthralled by the baseball playoffs.  I don’t really have a favorite team.  In solidarity with my sister, I could root for the Yankees.  I think I will just stick with watching and enjoying the fine baseball.  It feels wrong to root solely for the Yankees.

By the way, my sister is going to Los Angeles in a couple of weeks for interviews.  Have you thought about hiring her yet?  Did you forward her resume?  Been in touch?

Enough random musing for now.  Cherrio!

New York was really wonderful.  I am sorry that I didn’t get to see VeggieBerger, KosherBerger, SliderBerger, my favorite CPA, RVT, Mr. and Mrs. Margolis, and pretty much everyone else that I didn’t get to see.  The grade 10s had a wonderful time, that was most important, and I did, too.

If you’re in NYC, you should see Memphis.  It is wonderful.

I also was so appreciative of seeing C-Ro and Tamaraleh who both suggested they should bring me tubes of Tom’s of Maine toothpaste (fortunately they didn’t because I didn’t check my luggage and it would have been confiscated by the TSA).  It truly is the thought that counts.

I also am immensely pleased to say that I saw THE DIVA.  We discussed art, we ate pickles, we shopped.  Nothing like being sisters.

Unfortunately the trip did not end swimmingly because we were delayed forever (or 3.5 hours) and I now need to catch up on my sleep (and I also need a new pair of walking shoes.  Suggestions welcome).

I’m headed your way with 11 grade 10 students, 2 Israeli shlichim, and Dr. S.  We will be running around the city and I’m going to tweet the whole experience (never exactly where we are or any of the kids names, of course).

This trip is a great example of the importance of informal education.  In one weekend, we will do more in group building, learning about the immigrant narrative, and have fun all at the same time.  (This of course is similar to what it is like at Jewish summer camp though on a smaller scale).  I’m lucky to work at a synagogue that has a rich tradition of taking trips.

I hope you enjoy the tweets.  I will do my best to report back next week about all the antics!

Shabbat Shalom!

My sister, frequently referred to as THE DIVA is called such because she is amazingly talented.  She is smart, creative, organized, thoughtful, hard-working, dedicated, and generally all around awesome.

On Friday she officially announced that after eleven years of living in New York she is moving to Los Angeles.  She writes,

I am writing to you to let you know my big plans but also ask for your
help.  I am taking this big leap with no job lined up yet!  It is
exciting and scary.  I will be staying at my current job at Paul
Labrecque Salon and Spa until the end of October.  On Nov 4-14 I will
be going to LA to find an apt, get a car and most importantly, get a
job…  I am asking all of you for your assistance.  If you know
anyone that you could connect me with for a possible job, please let
me know or give them my information.  I am very open to many different
types of jobs and would be interested into looking at all the
opportunities that come up: Personal assistant work, management in
many fields, PR, Event planning, beauty industry, retail and more.  I
would be happy to send along my resume if necessary.

THE DIVA needs a job and I know that you can help!  So all you need to do is start thinking about who you know in Los Angeles and send me an email which I will forward to THE DIVA and she will get in touch with you and be amazingly grateful and follow-up on any leads.

There is just one thing you should know.  THE DIVA is a Yankee fan.  I know, not everyone can be perfect.  And maybe, just maybe when she spends some more time in Los Angeles she will convert to the Angels or Dodgers. Or she can remain a Yankee fan, I guess.  In the grand scheme of things this is really not that big a deal since so many people are Yankees fans.  This should not impact your decision to hire her in any way.  As I said she rocks.

Thank you for HIRING MY SISTER!