We queers have so much to say about love. We know what it is like to risk everything for it. We know what it is like to negotiate love without the crutch of gender roles to fall back on. We know what it was like, for many years, to love without benefit of marriage or any other kind of legal or social recognition. To love despite disapproval. We know what it is like to love lavishly, fiercely, sequentially or simultaneously, without the benefits or constraints of convention.
Read moreWe'll Always Have Paris
Angels, nazirites and the Paris Accords.
Read moreShabbos-Fall in British Columbia
Everywhere in this twilight hour, people hurry, worry, think about dinner, turn on televisions. Pour wine, open books. Dogs, collared and leashed eagerly await their evening walk.
Read moreKedoshim Question: Aural Argument
For this week's Torah portion, Kedoshim, Kol Aleph – the Jewish Renewal Blog – reprinted a piece I wrote in 2013, immediately on the heels of the Supreme Court arguments in the Windsor and Obergefell, the same-sex marriage cases. In it I imagine oral argument before the heavenly court to revoke the biblical prohibition on homosexuality, with no less than the famed Rabbi Hillel as the attorney for the petitioners. I was honored that this piece was selected for inclusion in this year's array of Torah commentary from Renewal rabbis and students.
Read moreThe Chain of Generations (and Minnie's Meringues)
The Steinert girls: Rose, Lucy and Minnie ca 1910. Chaco Canyon at sunset. Chaco in snow.
I bit in, and everything in me suddenly said, "Why yes, Grandma Minnie." A few bites later, it was again just a delicious thing and now sentimental too. But for that first moment, I had the unmistakable sensation of my grandmother next to me, our hearts turned toward each other in a way that hasn't been possible for nearly half a century.
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