Wow! I haven’t updated here in a lonnnnng time! I have just been really busy with things over at JewsByChoice.org, which BTW has lots of interesting discussion taking place, so go and check it out. Anyhow this Monday I went before “da man” for my interview and was informed that I have indeed qualified for a  green card! Anyhow you can read more about it over on Tamara’s blog. 

Sufice it to say that that his huge wait which has lifted of both of our shoulders and it feels grate to have crossed the finished line on this part of the journey.

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For those of you wondering why it’s been so quiet on the TikkunGer blog it’s because a lot has been going on in my neck of the woods.

First there was the high holidays and then there was getting married (yup we got married) and then there’s the fact that I’ve been putting a lot of time and energy to a new group blog project entitled Jewsbychoice.org

I meant to blog about the high holidays and getting married but to be honest both events had me too tired to string together anything coherent and so it just never happened.

As for JewsByChoice.Org most of my recent available blogging time and energy has gone into kick starting that baby.  We only launched the first week of October and it’s still early in the game but we’re already generating great posts and conversation.  If you like the type of Jewish blogging I’ve been here, I highly recommend checking out this new blog. Also if you wouldn’t mind adding us to your blog roll would be happy to reciprocate, just let us know via e-mail. Lastly if you’re in the mood to do a mitzvah (which some readers already have) please consider doing a quick post on your own blog letting your own readers, know all about our new project.

The new blog does mean that I’m going to be Jewing things down here a little bit but only because I will be Jewing things up over at Jewsbychoice.org

Posting here will probably be light for the next couple of months but TikkunGer.com is far from dead and in fact I’m hoping to do some remodeling here in January.  You know freshen up the little bit as well as change the focus of content to better reflect my many varied interests. You know stuff like spirituality, politics, green issues, movies, books and whatever else strikes my fancy at any given moment in time.

Anyhow, that’s about it for now.

Oh and again please do consider updating your blogroll, feed subscriptions and bookmarks to include Jewsbychoice.org.

Be well

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Last week Tamara and I found ourselves taking a last-minute trip up to Washington State. We had to take care of some family business so I wouldn’t call it a real vacation but we did manage to squeeze in an extremely fun day trip to Seattle. I’m not going to go into great detail with this post because Tamara’s already beaten me to the punch and I might add done a great job. However I will say that being in Washington felt a lot like home and made me realize a couple of things. One is that what passes for green here in Southern California really is brown and it would seem, that the further north one goes, the deeper blue the sky becomes. Secondly, I truly miss clouds and the rain and I mean truly miss clouds and rain!

But seriously all things considered I think we had an excellent trip especially our time in Seattle, which was fun and surprisingly inexpensive. I think that keeping kosher actually really helped keep the cost down because we avoided restaurants opting instead to pack and carry our own kosher food. I suppose that what we did might be called urban picnicking and it was a blast. By the way Pepper Tofurky is freaking awesome!

Anyhow we were staying a little over an hour outside of Seattle and instead of driving into Seattle we decided to park the car and take a ferry. I think it was a smart move because both of us to really enjoyed the ride and we managed to snap some excellent pictures. There were a flock of seagulls that followed us all the way to Seattle. On the way back they were with us again and this time people were feeding them, which was a pretty amazing thing to watch. The birds spent more time gliding than flying and literally seemed to float over to people’s hands, where they elegantly plucked food from fingers and then just floated away.

If you’re interested in seeing more pictures from this trip you can do so by clicking here.

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So last night, a little after 10 PM, I received an e-mail from one of my instructors with a mark for the final assignment I submitted as part of my HSRV 433 course. This 26 page paper titled “Jewish Civilization 2.0 - Fostering Jewish Identity Through Online Social Networking, Cultural and Educational Opportunities“ was worth 50% of my final grade and it received a mark of 90 or an A+, which I’m extremely pleased with. Math isn’t my strong suit and I haven’t calculated everything but unless I’m horribly off in my calculations, that last mark means I’ve passed the course with an A+ and that isn’t shabby at all. Essentially this was a part of a fourth year research project which is meant to be tied into two other fourth-year courses which when combined winds up basically being what most of you in America would call a “thesis project”. Basically the way these courses work is that the first course HSRV 433 has students pick a topic of interest and do a three-step research project on it. Then in HSRV 455 the student uses that research to develop some sort of project proposal which builds on or addresses some question raised by the previously completed research. Then finally in HSRV 477 the student is actually to apply/run the project he has developed. I’m not sure how great a job I’ve done explaining things but for those of you who are confused or want to know more feel free to click on the course links above.

I’m not sure whether or not I’m going to post my entire research paper online but now that it’s completed, marked and returned. I guess I’m comfortable enough to post the introduction for those of you who might be curious.

Anyhow here it is (the intro).

The American Jewish 20-40 year-old population is still in many ways one of the most underserved within the broader Jewish community. Because of this, this demographic is most likely to be at a higher risk of disengaging from their Jewish communities and sense of Jewish identity. Of significance is how this demographic has begun turning to the Internet as a tool (often even as a preferred choice) for expressing, understanding, cultivating and engaging their individual and collective senses of Jewish identity. Although there has been a considerable amount of research conducted in the areas of Jewish identity and culture, to date, there unfortunately exists little research on how the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies are being used (or might be used in the future) to address the unique needs of this Jewish demographic.

In order to help address this existing research deficit, the emphasis of this paper will be on discussing how emerging Internet and Web 2.0 technologies are currently being used by this demographic. Additionally, how these technologies might better be used in the future as important strategies for addressing the needs facing this segment of the Jewish population. These needs include new modes of informal engagement over traditional forms of affiliation, and an overall sense of connectedness to Jewish identity.

I will begin by briefly summarizing the data which I have previously collected and analyzed for earlier assignments in this course, all of which are topics relating to current trends within my research demographic. These trends include: Jewish Self-Concept, Community and Institutional affiliation, as well as cultural and religious engagement.

In addition, part of this discussion will include basic information on what the Web 2.0 is as well as several examples of how these technologies are currently being used to address some of the challenges facing the 20-40 year old Jewish population. I will focus specifically on the Web 2.0 and its role in facilitating Social Networking and Self-Directed Learning Opportunities. To conclude, I will provide recommendations on how these technologies might further be used to provide this segment of the Jewish population with improved formal and informal Social Networking and Learning Opportunities.

As usual polite yet constructive feedback is always welcome.

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I got up at 6 this morning and watched all three amazing parts of this series and I (of course) highly recommend them!

Oh and BTW Winston is practicing Jew and Scientist, which makes this series all the more interesting to watch IMO.

Unfortunately I don’t have time to do a proper post but I will mention that Winston at one point in part 3, interviews Richard Dawkins and IMO does a great job of keeping him in check.

Anyhow enjoy and if you do watch feel free to share your thoughts on the subject.

From the BBC Press Release:

Robert Winston presents The Story of God

Professor Robert Winston presents a definitive three-part documentary series on the history of mankind’s quest to understand the nature of God.

The Story of God is an epic journey across continents, cultures and eras exploring religious beliefs from their earliest incarnations, through the development of today’s major world faiths and the status of religious faith in a scientific age.

Read the rest of the press release here

The Story of God part 1 of 3

The Story of God part 2 of 3

The Story of God part 3 of 3

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I just wanted to throw together a quick video syncing everyone who took the time out of their busy day to wish me a happy birthday.

Thanks so very much for adding to the specialness of this day.

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As a fatty myself, I thought this was kind a cool even if it was a Chabad Rabbi

I bet he could loose another thirty if he shaved the beard off

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Hey this is just a quick FYI post to let people know about the Live Earth concert that is currently pretty much happening on every continent and in over 130 some countries. Neither myself or Tamara had heard anything about it until she stumbled across it on TV, looking for something to watch after Shabbos this evening. So far it’s been pretty cool it’s a mix of live music mixed with celebrity interviews and info on DIY eco-things anyone can do to help address the climate crisis. The commercials and sponsorship around the event even seem to be pretty cool running some sort of a conscious capitalism thing. In fact one of the ads was very cool because it was a service announcement telling people how to get taken off junk mail lists. Nice!

Anyhow if you’re into eco-Kashrut or the whole Tikkun Olam thing you might wanna check out this web site and flip through your TV channels to see if you can find it. We are going to watch it and I’ll try to do a follow-up post on Monday or something.

Enjoy, and if you do check it out please let me know what what you think.

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Today a cool NPR program showed up in my RSS Reader on the subject of Jewish thought and practice as it pertains to marriage and family life. OK, actually it’s just the first half hour. The last 30 minutes focuses more on the Christian take and I’m not so into that. Not that there is anything wrong with the Christian take but its just not my cup of tea is all.

Anyhow obviously this is a subject which is of great interest to me both as an engaged (as in soon to be wed) and as a committed Jew. However I really enjoyed listening to this program for a few reasons above and beyond the obvious ones already mentioned.

The Jewish expert interviewed is Rabbi Elliot Dorff who just happens to me one of my favorite Contemporary Jewish Theologians. Incidentally he also teaches UJ here in LA which is a place I would eventually like to study at.

Another really cool and new thing I learnt listening to the show is that according to Rabbi Dorff a recent study looking at divorce showed that Jews who complete the UJ Marriage Preparation Course apparently only have an 8% divorce rate. I don’t know anything about how this study was conducted but 8% is a great number (even if only anecdotally) considering about 31% of US marriages end in divorce. More importantly is that Tamara and I have been planning on taking this course as soon as we can, so that 8% stats is very reassuring!

Rabbi Dorff ( in the extended interview - see below) also covers tons of other interesting stuff including sexual dynamics, the spirituality of marriage, homosexuality and divorce, to name but a few.  

There certainly is something of value here for anyone who is going to, is now, or has been married. So check it out!

Oh and if you do listen please feel free to share your thoughts on the topic!

Marriage, Family, and Divorce (July 5, 2007)

American ideals of courtship and marriage echo with Biblical imagery ? “bone of my bones” “flesh of my flesh.” But what does the Bible really say, and how has it been taught across the centuries in which the institution of marriage has changed dramatically? With a rabbi and a New Testament scholar, we explore nuances of biblical teachings about marriage, family, and divorce ? the surprising ambiguities of the New Testament and the striking practicality of Jewish tradition across the ages.

• Link
• Enclosure

Update: Click here to hear the full/unedited version of the Rabbi Dorff interview.

PS: TAMARA Check this out!

Summer 2007 Basic Seminars

Tue 7-9pm ? July 10 through September 11 ?  Wilshire Boulevard Temple (Olympic and Barrington) in West Los Angeles  

Wed 7:30-9:30pm ? June 13 through August 8 (no class July 4)

Thur 8:00-10:00pm ? May 10 through July 12

There’s not much time to think about this and it may even be too late to register but I thought I would put the the idea out there just in case you are into it!

Let me know what you think!

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Now for something on the lighter (actually brownish) side of things.

For the past while I’ve been telling Tamara about this machine but I’m not sure that she actually believed me. So I’ve decided to provide a little proof.

Warning there is some strong language used in the following video not to mention a high fecal content.

So viewers discretion is advised.

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