Jewish Atheists/Agnostics/Secularists Wanted

Over on Feministe and previously on her blog Dear Diaspora, Daisy Bond wanted to hear from:

"Diaspora Jews of my generation who, like me, are concerned with this task, but all responses are welcome. I would also very much like to hear from those Jews who are most at risk of being left out of the conversation: queer folks, Jews of color, Jews from “intermarried” families and those with only one Jewish parent, those who are themselves married to or in a relationship with a non-Jewish person, those who grew up secular or just not very observant, those who didn’t get a traditional Jewish education (Hebrew school, bar/bat mitzvah, etc). I want to hear from you! And I want you to know that Judaism is yours, that your have every right to it, that your voice and your concerns and are important and relevant and should (must!) be part of this discussion."

The conversation was regarding what we wanted in the future of Judaism and the conversation has been brisk and enlightening.

My particular interest is of those of us who are connected to Judaism but do not have a connection to a god or divine source. This includes people who have converted, those who feel left out of the larger Jewish community and anyone who has a connection to Judaism, the culture, but not the supernatural are welcome to this discussion.

As a bit of background, I grew up in a very traditionally reform synagogue and household. Lit Shabbat candles every Friday night, didn't eat shrimp or pork but didn't keep kosher either and kept separate dishes and did bedika chametz the night before Pesach, etc. As a young adult I went to HUC-JIR and had planned to become a rabbi until I realized that I was pretending to believe in God and it was incompatible, at least in my mind, with getting smicha. I promptly stopped practicing and yet, the culture, and yes, even some of the rituals, hold great meaning for me.

On this blog I have written about the Omer, Purim, tashlich, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and mikveh. I have also written a screed about Jews and tattoos. I am pretty well drunk on the punch people but I go into even the most liberally-minded Jewish programs and the prayers turn me off.

So, my questions are:

What do you do to maintain your culture?
Have you found a community that welcomes you and makes you feel included?
Do you attend synagogue? If so, how do you deal with the God stuff?
What other questions need to be asked?

I look forward to hearing your answers and questions.

cliff list

So, some of you have heard what I want done with my body upon the occasion of my demise. For those that haven't, I would like my ashes tossed off the same cliff on the big island of Hawai'i that we tossed Jeff's ashes.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of Jeff's death, on July 1, 1999, I hear by present my Cliff List (in no particular order).

Some of the following I have already accomplished so those are crossed out, but it didn't seem like I should leave them out just because I've already done them...so here it is.

1. Get my book published
2. See the Taj Mahal with my niece
3. Go into the Grand Canyon on a mule
4. Make 100 beautiful things (more on this to come)
5. Take a frame-worthy photograph
6. Visit South Africa
7. Return to Israel for a visit with friends and float on the Dead Sea
8. Rent a motorscooter in Greece
9. Visit the Clinton Library
10. Travel around the U.S. in an RV
11. Visit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial and ride through the Black Hills
12. Learn to fence
13. See the Northern Lights
14. See Chichen Itza
15. Cruise to Alaska
16. Learn to play poker
17. Learn to do metalwork
18. Learn woodworking and make something useful (or a treehouse!)
19. Get my master's degree
20. Mentor a student
21. Have high tea while sartorially appropriate
22. Have occasion to make and wear a renaissance style gown
23. See the grunion run
24. Spend a week at a writing retreat in New England in the fall
25. Write a children's book
26. Take a train to Canada with a sleeper car
27. See a meteor shower in the desert
28. Stay at the Shady Dell in Bisbee, AZ
29. Make a quilt for myself
30. Make a quilt for someone who is special to me
31. Take "that picture" with the Leaning Tower of Pisa
32. Visit Zion National Park
33. Visit Bryce Canyon National Park
34. Visit Yellowstone National Park
35. See Old Faithful erupt
36. Stand on the Great Wall of China
37. Have my portrait painted.
38. Have a "drive in movie night" in my back yard
39. Fly in a helicopter (that isn't lifeflighting me to a hospital)
40. Be in New Orleans on Mardi Gras
41. Write a cookbook
42. Design and build my perfect back yard
43. Have a spa environment in my bathroom
44. Eat fire
45. Buy a needy stranger a meal
46. Dive off a cliff
47. Learn to ride a motorcycle
48. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
49. See an active volcano
50. Stay at a monastery or convent
51. Eat fresh lobster in Maine
52. Pick apples at a U-Pick farm and make applesauce
53. Grow a bunch of heirloom tomatoes and eat them with olive oil and mozzarella
54. Have a glass of Greek wine while watching the sunset off a balcony in Greece
55. Have the best Hallowe'en display on the block
56. Make my own Hallowe'en costume
57. Have a reunion with my Israel classmates
58. Go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with box seats
59. See a seriously campy movie at Cinespia
60. Go to Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach
61. Fix up an old car (preferably my 66 Ford Galaxie >photo) and join the Hell's Belles
62. Finish my tattoo
63. Get the rest of my body tattooed
64. Grow a pumpkin
65. Visit the longest yard sale
66. Design and print my own fabric
67. Have a yearly themed party until I can't think of any more good themes
68. Build a firepit in my backyard and have a s'more roast
69. Make and can my own pickles
70. Start an Etsy site and sell my wares
71. Make my bedroom into a cozy retreat
72. Learn to sew well enough that I can make an item of clothing without hesitation
73. Have a massive Hallowe'en party
74. Have an article that I wrote printed in a major magazine
75. Go kayaking in Hawai'i again
76. Take a belly dance class
77. Ride in a hot air balloon
78. Successfully make spun sugar
79. Sleep on a houseboat
80. own a home
81. sit and read in front of my own fireplace
82. learn to scuba dive
83. Get my SCUBA license
84. Go to the races
85. Make every recipe in one cookbook
86. Run a 5K
87. Have a full day of beauty at a spa and enjoy every moment
88. Leave a 100% tip for someone
89. Teach a University course
90. Fire a gun
91. participate in an archeological dig and find a treasure
92. Skinny dip
93. Visit Pompeii
94. Visit the Anne Frank house
95. Visit (or at least pee in) all 50 states
96. Take a pilates class
97. See the Milky Way from Joshua Tree
98. Open a store
99. Retire!
100. Ask a stranger in another country if I can take their picture in their native language
101. Have my photographic portrait taken
102. Build a snowman
103. Visit the Louvre
104. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
105. Take a swing dance class
106. Make a piece of art that I could hang on a wall and be proud of
107. Stop ending sentences in prepositions.

That last one was just for those of you who are still with me. I'm going to try to update this list to let you know how I'm doing. It's not a complete list. I'll probably add to it as I go.

I'm looking forward to checking things off the list!

I heart schadenfreude

So, according to a Missouri newspaper a group of neo-Nazis decided to adopt part of a highway. This is what they reported:

The Springfield, Missouri, chapter of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization, thought it would be cute to adopt a section of highway along West Bypass between Sunshine and Farm Road 142. MoDOT allowed them to put up a sign along the road bearing the group's name, and members posed with it, Seig Heil-ing and whatnot (pictured). Afterward, they went home, put on their swastika-print jammies and drifted off to thumb-sucking sleep, secure in their white pride.

But then came the Jews of Kansas City.

Who went to the city council and got the very same stretch of highway named after Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose family was murdered during the Holocaust. Rabbi Heschel marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and appropriately wrote, "A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought." He also believed that racism was the gravest threat to humanity.

And now the Nazi Party of Springfield is responsible for cleaning the Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway.

Ha!

Murder in Kansas

Dr. George Tiller was a physician providing abortion services in Wichita, Kansas up until yesterday when he was murdered at his church.

From 1989-1992, I helped women enter health clinics despite rows of protesters from Operation Rescue (OR) sitting in front of the doors.

I helped women over fences and through back doors. I learned to create a "toothpaste corridor" and was kicked and punched by old men and young women alike. I met some of the loveliest people in the world who awoke with me at 4 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings and staked out womens health clinics throughout the city waiting to learn which one would be "hit". I worked on Westmoreland and Figueroa, in Sherman Oaks, East L.A. and Tustin.

I learned what humiliation a woman would go through to see her doctor and what humiliation a group of people would resort to in order to prevent a woman from taking care of her health.

Dr. Tiller was a frequent target of anti-abortion violence throughout his career and yet, despite the risk to himself and his family, he continued to provide these essential health services in a place where those services were almost, if not absolutely, non-existent.

Bill O'Reilly has targeted Dr. Tiller for 4 years for providing abortion services. He deserves some of the fault in this murder. His campaign made Dr. Tiller a nationwide target warning of Dr. Tiller's "judgment day."

Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, said yesterday: "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions."

Today I made a donation to Medical Students 4 Choice, whose mission is to make reproductive health including abortion services a part of standard medical education.

To Dr. Tiller's family and friends, I wish you peace. To anyone who would deny a woman the right to make her own decisions about her health, I hope you never have to make a choice, but if you do, I hope it is your choice to make.

Party like a ROCKSTAR?

Or not.

When I was growing up we didn't have bottled water. No, seriously, no bottled water for sale. I know, it's crazy.

But the latest craze in bottled refreshment are those "energy drinks". I don't drink them but they're pretty pervasive. You see the cans, like a big ol' Colt littering the streets where young'uns hang out. I've heard they're just heavily caffeinated sugar water - like JOLT cola. Some of them have minor amounts of vitamins in them just so they can say they will help your focus or concentration or some shit like that.

Anyway, my point is that Rockstar is one of these energy drinks. You've seen the black can with the gold star on the front. Who knew that this kid friendly, rock star approved drink is actually made by a bunch of racist, anti-queer, anti-immigration douchenozzles?

The founders and owners of Rockstar69 (stay classy guys!) is none other than right-wing conservative radio shock-jock Michael (Weiner) Savage, his son, Russell and his wife Janet. That's right, the people who brought you Rockstar are the same people that founded the Paul Revere Society to:

1. Support Traditional Marriage
2. Close the Borders now.
3. Deport all illegal immigrants now.
4. Eliminate bilingual education in all states.
5. Require health tests for all recent foreign born
6. Make tax cuts permanent.
7. End Affirmative Action
8. Tort Reform - Stop Class Action Lawyers.

Fabulous.

Esquire describes Savage thusly:

If you thought Rush Limbaugh was bad, try Michael Savage, the talk-radio host whose racist, homophobic psychobabble isn't just fueling the car stereos of eight million Americans. It's fueling the priorities of the GOP.

Savage on autism:
"You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is," according to a copy of the broadcast captured on mediamatters.org. "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is."

On Muslims:
To "save the United States," lawmakers should institute "outright ban on Muslim immigration" and on "the construction of mosques"

On immigrants:
Savage on immigrant students' hunger strike: "[L]et them fast until they starve to death. ... Go make a bomb where you came from"

And on gays:
"You've got to explain to the children ... why God told people this was wrong. You have to explain this to them in this time of mental rape that's going on. The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia, that's my position. They're raping our children's minds."

And my personal favorite -- on the Nobel committee:
"90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies"

I, for one, would very much like to see these studies to which you refer. I have looked on the PubMed and LexisNexis and cannot find that of which you speak. Perhaps you have misspoke? /snark

You know what to do folks. Raise a teaspoon and boycott Rockstar.

My favorite photo

From the Prop 8 protests outside of the Supreme Court building in San Francisco.

Via Towleroad taken by Brian and Brandon

Prop 8. What it's really about.

The California Supreme Court, one year ago, affirmed the right of same sex couples to marry. We already know that our Supreme Court believes that this right is ours. I want to remind people of this before we get into gear for protests if need be. It's important that we always know who we're angry with and why we're angry. Barking at cars is not effective in advancing our political and personal agendas.

Today's decision is not about the right to marry technically - and in this case, technically is all that really matters.

Technically, this decision is about whether or not Proposition 8 on November's ballot was constitutional. Whether it was a revision or an amendment. If it was a revision, then the referendum process is not sufficient. This decision isn't about same sex marriage but about the referendum/initiative process in California - even though it is deciding the fates of millions of California couples.

Arguments made on both sides were not about whether marriage should be allowed but whether the people of the state of California get to decide on certain rights and how that should work -- whether by legislation or by referendum.

We'll know in about 2 hours what the Supreme Court decides. I hope people remain non-violent if the court does not decide to overturn the amendment. While anger is important and useful, violence never is.

The messages we send.

Today, May 22 would have been Harvey Milk's 79th birthday. Happy birthday Harvey, and thanks for everything.

This same week that a sixth grade child at Mt. Woodson Elementary School in San Diego County was asked to give her report at lunch hour rather than during class. Students had to take home and have permission slips signed to listen to the report. Natalie Jones decided to do her report on the first openly gay politician, Harvey Milk.

The ACLU is charging that Natalie had her free speech rights violated. There is nothing in the life of Harvey Milk, from his upbringing to his life and political campaigning to his assassination that is inappropriate for a sixth grade classroom. Did the principal, who sent letters to parents giving them the option of not allowing their child to listen to the presentation, think that the 6th grader was going to discuss his sex life? Or was it just because this important and historical political figure might bring up more questions than the principal could handle.

Doubtless, a small but significant percentage of the children in Natalie's class are gay. They have received a message this week. A message that their lives are inappropriate.

They may receive another one on Tuesday. The California Supreme Court will rule to maintain or overturn Prop 8.

What message will they receive.