en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4596611 Comments by Dorothy_L http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/217986/#IDComment964646788 Hi Michelle: Were you asking for my recipe? dorothy Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:50:33 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/217986/#IDComment964646788 http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/218682/#IDComment964547337 Thank you for honoring this story with writing that is refined, seamless and elegant. Kol Ha-kavod to your mother and you both. Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:47:30 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/218682/#IDComment964547337 http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/218183/#IDComment964050783 This is the ultra-Orthodox culture and mentality now. They have to keep erecting ever higher walls because it is the only means to distinguish themselves from a Judaism of female rabbis, an increasing number of bal-tshuvas, modern Orthodox challenging the system etc. I too grew up in your era, played with the Japanese kids who lived next door, made friends later in life with Catholic women who shared my values, (I even had a nun at my Shabbos table one Friday night!), and mixed easily at social gatherings with colleagues where not once did I consider putting a shrimp canape on my plate of cold fruit or accepting a glass of treif wine. I am not only turned off with the hard-right turn of modern Orthodoxy the last 30 years, but have turned my back on identifying as Orthodox. A beautiful blueprint for living is no longer recognizable to me, what with the shtick, the poseurs, the narishkeit, the window-dressing that passes for standards of acceptance, the sense of entitlement that lives large, and the diminishment of those who cannot be controlled. Tue, 14 Apr 2015 13:14:27 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/218183/#IDComment964050783 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/217339/#IDComment959641273 It's almost 8 a.m and I'm about to start another round of "Extreme Cleaning, Pesach Edition." And I've been at it almost five weeks. Here is my approach: I'm just damn grateful to be healthy and happy to clean my home and make a nice Pesach. Where would I rather be? In a hospital, G-d forbid? Yes, this version of cleaning demands all the energy I have, mentally and physically. But when all is said and done, one has a super-clean home (coast on that for a while!) and a lovely holiday to enjoy. My husband appreciates it all, says thank you more times than I can count, and that is all that matters to me. And by the way: treat yourself at the end of a long cleaning day with a scoop of good ice cream and a movie from Hollywood's golden era of the 40s. We should all live and be well and do it again next year. Chag sameach to all. Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:05:32 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/217339/#IDComment959641273 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/215733/#IDComment954425966 Would you enter a business partnership and put up half the capital if you knew that should there be a fallout between the partners, there was a real risk you would be unable to get your investment out? Heck no! The time is long passed due for an overhaul of the gett laws to make women full and equal partners in Jewish divorce, with neither husband nor wife dependent on the goodwill of the other for their freedom. Sadly, what tiny opening in the window of opportunity to reform the gett laws has been closed, because there are too many rabbis now staking their claim to 'my way or the highway', and thus there is no practical or logistical way for a gett solution to be reached, much less recognized, by all factions. I have no skin in this game, other than as an observant Jewish woman fed up and increasingly alienated by what is going on in the Orthodox world. That said, I cannot stress how wrong it is to involve secular law in gett, a religious matter. The rabbis have their work cut out for them to fix the gett laws, and it is not up to legislators or civil courts to do their work for them. Mon, 2 Mar 2015 19:29:25 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/215733/#IDComment954425966 http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/215556/#IDComment953598782 Sorry, kinderlach, I like my (late) bubbie's kitchen just fine. And I miss it. It's where I picked up (by osmosis) how to bake challah, make dynamite gefilte fish and cold (dairy) beet borscht that can't be beat on a hot Shabbos day. Her knaidlach, however, still elude me. As a health-conscious vegetarian, I don't use 95% of the fat my bubbie did. But I can honestly say it wasn't the shmaltz or butter that caught up to my bubbie and zayde, of blessed memory both, but simply old age. Fri, 27 Feb 2015 17:07:14 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/215556/#IDComment953598782 http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/215472/#IDComment953097200 Streits whole wheat matzo for Pesach: hands down the best. Crispy and baked just right. Wed, 25 Feb 2015 22:22:16 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/215472/#IDComment953097200 http://forward.com/articles/215190/how-could-we-have-trusted-rabbi-barry-freundel/#IDComment952766618 The author may have (inadvertently) answered the headline's question when he notes that while attending Kesher Israel regularly when living in Washington, it "was a thrill to sit behind Senator Joseph Lieberman. Leon Wieseltier and other luminaries of the American Jewish scene." This is the halo effect: being in the company of powerful, influential people (however peripherally), therefore anyone who moves in exalted circles is above reproach or suspicion Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:19:26 +0000 http://forward.com/articles/215190/how-could-we-have-trusted-rabbi-barry-freundel/#IDComment952766618 http://forward.com/articles/215190/how-could-we-have-trusted-rabbi-barry-freundel/#IDComment952574652 problem #1: Judaism, especially Orthodox branches, have morphed into a culture of 'rock star' rabbis. problem #2: Men, including rabbis, have no business anywhere near the women's mikveh, not even the parking lot._ problem #3: How many women's mikvehs are actually run by women, with a female board of directors in charge of policies regarding health and safety matters? Mon, 23 Feb 2015 13:48:14 +0000 http://forward.com/articles/215190/how-could-we-have-trusted-rabbi-barry-freundel/#IDComment952574652 http://forward.com/articles/214897/lesley-gore-jewish-its-my-party-singer-dies-at-/#IDComment951536435 What a voice. Her songs like "She's a Fool" and "Maybe I Know" are without peer 50 years later. A generation of adolescent girls on the cusp of one of the biggest adventures of our lives--the 60s-- were more empowered by what Gore's signature song "You Don't Own Me" had to say to us than the feminist rhetoric of the era. Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:29:48 +0000 http://forward.com/articles/214897/lesley-gore-jewish-its-my-party-singer-dies-at-/#IDComment951536435 http://forward.com/articles/199368/rolling-stones-touch-down-in-israel/#IDComment838514261 To Mick and the Band: May you all continue to play "until 120". As long as you do, we all stay young. Zei gezunt. Dorothy Lipovenko Tue, 3 Jun 2014 19:46:28 +0000 http://forward.com/articles/199368/rolling-stones-touch-down-in-israel/#IDComment838514261 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/198513/#IDComment834163113 When AIDS became a household word in the 1980s, I began asking questions about chlorination and other hygenic protocols at the mikveh I was using. I soon got a call at home from a certain rabbi, who said in no uncertain terms that my concerns were a women's rights agenda, (I can't recall his exact words). I told him this was a health and safety issue, nothing more, nothing less. Now, do you see what Orthodox women are up against? Fri, 23 May 2014 13:36:47 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/198513/#IDComment834163113 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/198513/#IDComment833775868 No one needs permission-- rabbinic or otherwise-- to do the right thing. Unfortunately, with the various rabbinic bans and/or restrictions on certain fresh produce (much of it greens and cruciferous vegetables essential to healthier eating), the frum diet can become a nutritional wasteland. Losing weight requires a commitment to not just regular exercise but smart food choices, especially foods that may lower risk of certain disease. Thu, 22 May 2014 14:54:01 +0000 http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/198513/#IDComment833775868