Tuesday, August 22, 2006

So Many Topics...

I am, quite literally, falling-down tired. So much has happened here and on top of it all, I'm recovering from a head cold. A few things I want to share, but don't have the energy for at the moment, so I'll post a sort of teaser and fill it in over the next week:


  • Oldest Son asked the funniest (and quite a complimentary) question about our rabbi today, which I briefly blogged about on Our Kids Speak
  • We adopted a dog!
  • We went camping on the kids' first tent-camping trip, with the new dog, and lived to tell about it
  • I wrote a Jewish short story called "Saturdays" to be posted soon on Elster's Storytellers
  • I just learned about a lump-less, undetectable-by-mammogram form of breast cancer called Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) and will post a news story shortly
  • The children's chapter book my company (Yaldah Publishing) is publishing is now available for advance reservations, PLUS I got the first chapter uploaded to the publishing web site for people to check out. More info to be posted soon on my work blog, yaldah-publishing.blogspot.com
  • A million thoughts that have yet to take any literary form as a result of reading one of my newest favorite blogs, I Was Thinking About... Maybe I can get some of my own thoughts inspired by Yael's down in a post or two
  • As in Days of Old is coming along nicely, though I need to resolve the "Do I write or do I sleep?" dilemma
I think that's about it for now. I'm off to an early bedtime!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Sheyna,
I had lost your weblog but here I am, I found it again! I put it on my bloglines.

I dropped out of The Writing Mother group...too much cross posting with Momwriters and such left me frustrated. I am starting The Artists Way again now that my girls are back in school. I still want to finish.

Hope you're having a great day! Enjoy your new dog. My dog was adopted from a shelter and she's priceless!

Sheyna said...

Elster: Thanks! I look forward to reading the others.

Pattie: Very cool - I'm glad you found me again! I've been no mail on all the writing mom lists because I just have too much going on between publishing and my own writing right now. Not to mention school starting for Oldest Son and community involvement and trying to be wifely and maintaining some vague semblance of a social life...

More about our new dog soon, but she's also a shelter dog and a great addition to our family.

Ah, The Artist's Way... I never did finish, really want to, never did make it out for even one artist's date. [sigh] Perhaps once Like a Maccabee is published.

Good to see you again!

Yael said...

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying reading my blog. No higher compliment can be given me then that my writing makes people think, even if sometimes the only thought is, "This woman is nuts!"

Sheyna said...

Yael - nah, not nuts. One of the points you made recently stuck with me: the one about if the Conservative movement ruled that driving to/from shul on Shabbat was permissible (and not all Conservative Jews agree with that tidbit, but we'll put that aside for now), then why do so many Conservative rabbis and other Conservative Jewish leaders, lay or otherwise, put forth the clear message that driving is okay, but not driving is better, and living within walking distance - even for the sole purpose of walking to shul on Shabbat - is best? It makes sense only in a roundabout sort of way, and only if one uses the very Jewish explanation of, "Well, see, it all depends..."

When I read that, it got me to thinking, when is "okay" really "not okay"? And under what circumstances should we shorten "The law permits it but I don't agree with that law (eg: I follow a stricter interpretation)" to "Yes, it's permissible"?

At the moment, trying to find answers makes my head hurt.

Yael said...

LOL. I never find answers, only more questions.

I do view Conservative halakhic rulings with a good dose of skepticism, yet I admire the process of taking on these issues and at least trying to make sense of it all.

The driving thing, IMO, just points out some glaring inconsistencies with what we say, i.e. Conservative Halakhah is totally authentic, with what we do, i.e. consider the most observant will walk to shul rather than drive. If the rulings are merely concessions for us that our rabbis don't really hold to themselves, then of what value are they?