In case you were wondering...

Wherever you are in the world, you probably just heard me laughing hysterically for the last ten minutes. I was making my calls (mostly leaving messages) as usual to synagogues across the country, "Hi, this is Susanne...yada yada... Shabbat Across America... yada yada... if you'd like to take part... yada yada...call me at...yada yada." I hung up the phone and was REALLY excited to eat my next Mamba fruit chew (it was strawberry! yum!). They're awesome, sort of like a more kosher equivalent to Starburst candy, but without the gelatin. So I hung up and screamed MAMBA excitedly!! Only to realize that the phone hadn't clicked all the way into place and since my headset was still on, the exclamation totally made it onto the answering machine message. So without cursing I quickly hung up completely and burst into hysterics. I told Tamarzeepoo what happened and she joined in with her own belly laugh. This went on for a while, really, really loudly! I started convulsing on the floor of my office, almost choking on the Mamba I was chewing (this was strawberry remember, I couldn't wait until the laughing stopped to eat it). Good news is, the shul was in Lake Havasu City, and I don't think it ever even checks its answering machine. So my integrity remains intact. This will be our little secret.

Why can't we all find guys like this?

Seth Galena, half of the dynamic twin duo thats responsible for Bangitout, proposed this morning to his girlfriend Hindy. What he did differently was that he did it on live TV. Major props dude and nice tux. Mazel Tov!

Watch it here!

Shoes. Let's get some shoes.

Funniest....thing....ever! You will be frightened at first. But that will pass. And you'll watch it again. And again. And again. Watch Muffins next. Go to You Tube and search Muffins. You won't regret. Watch out for chametz though.

Great political song

I just came across this song by Pink (of all people right?) as I was watching the season finale of the L Word on Sunday. Yes, I am a straight female and I watch the L Word. I think its a great dramedy. The female sex scenes make a me a little but uncomfortable, but then again, I'm the only 27 year old that still blushes when she see a hetero make out seen on network television when in the presence of her Dad. But thats probably just because my dad is fumbling to quickly change the channel. Anyhoo, the song was Pink's "Dear Mr. President". She discussed the questions soooo many Americans are dealing with today and would love to have a conversation with President Bush about. She takes on homelessness, military families, education, minimum wage, gay rights, and more. "For What its Worth" by Buffalo Springfield, one of the best war songs ever, was just dealing with Vietnam and its fallout. The social commentary in Pink's song is superb. The disdain so many of us have nowadays is showcased here. I've included the lyrics below and encourage you to all listen to the song or download it on iTunes.

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy (were you a lonely boy)
Are you a lonely boy (are you a lonely boy)
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind (we're not blind)
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pay the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

Le Marais Kashrut in Question

Repost from the Maalot Yahoo group:

Le Marais Kashrut in Question
Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:43 pm (PST)
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like a mashgiach from le
marais resigned over some kashrut related weirdness, and is demanding that
the OU take action...

www.amashgiachspeaksout.com

Is this the (temporary) end of "warm chocolate cake"?

note: I have not called the OU for their side of the story. I would
encourage others to do so.
-----------------

Personally, I love Le Marais. Its one of my favorite restaurants in the city. Their food is good and their steak, fries, salad for $17.95 is one of the best deals in town. When you come from a non-kosher background where you could go to Sizzler and get the steak, shrimp, and all-you-can-eat salad bar for $9.99, the Le Marais meal doesn't sound that great, but still, its tasty. I'm saddened by the news but it will hopefully be resolved soon.

Meredith's Stepmom is a Jew?

I've enjoyed watching Meredith Grey's awkward relationship with her estranged father and stepmother. One of the reasons being I've always admired the actress that plays her stepmom, Mare Winningham. She might not be everyone's favorite former brat packer but she just might be the most talented.
You could argue, well Emilio Estevez now directs, and Demi Moore marries hot guys half her age. Mare is not only a fine actress and singer but I just learned, she bakes challah! Thats right, Mare was raised Roman Catholic but converted to Judaism a few years ago according to a wonderful article I just read on the Hillel website. Mrs. Grey, more power to you!

A Crying Shame...

Okay, so other than my roommate ST and my officemate Tamarzeepoo, very few people know about my newly discovered passion for American Idol. This is the first year that I've consistently watched the show. Its also the first year that I've owned DVR so I'm sure theres a correllation since I can now fast forwarding through the Idols I hate and pause for moments like this:


Thats right. We first saw this weeper appear around the time that Sanjaya was performing. My guess was that his voice was causing a painful aneurysm. Or she saw the chick wearing a "Fanjaya" shirt. That sight was enough to make me barf. Viewers were baffled. I thought she might have been the reincarnation of the scary blond kid from Poltergeist. But she wasn't. Defamer got the whole story.

Subway Boycott!

Yup, I created the above image myself. I am quite Microsoft Paint savvy.

I invite you all to join me on my boycott of Subway Sandwiches. But not for the reasons you might think. Not because Quizno's is 1000 times better, and Schlotzsky's is even better than that. No, it is because Subway sandwiches did not give me the free bicycle that I totally deserved!

I'll explain: I got an IM today from my buddy Eli saying that two of her co-workers had just won bikes on the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Ave. Subway, as part of their healthy lifestyle advertising campaign had a street team on the corner there looking for random acts of "exercise". So I jogged, no sprinted, from 36th street up to their location. I ran up to this group in bright yellow rain slickers (yup, I sprinted through the rain) and asked them what was going on. I was visibly out of breath and my pulse was going pretty good. I was informed that I didn't qualify because I approached them first as opposed to them approaching me. They were supposed to "spot" me first doing my "exercise". Meanwhile as I stood there obviously pissed they "spotted" a petite woman walk out of the HBO building and "speedwalk" into Starbucks for her caffeine fix. They gave her the fricken bike. This little woman wearing, get this, an HBO Sports shirt won the free bicycle. She looks like she participates in triathalons. I look like my favorite form of exercise is channel surfing. What the hell?! So I call on all of my readers to boycott their establishments. To hell with their fajita sub! To hell with ducks eating free at Subway (Mitch Hedberg shout out there)! To hell with Jared Fricken Fogle the dude that lost all his weight by eating a sub every day for lunch and dinner! To hell with all of it! So join my boycott! Since 90% of my readers keep strictly kosher that should be extremely easy for you (minus the Jews in Cleveland and Brooklyn with their kosher franchises). But everyone else, promise me you'll never eat at Subway again. And feel free to buy me a new bike with your tax refund this year. My favorite color is red. Thank you.

Don't be this guy

Don't be Charlie. Charlie logged 500 hours on Facebook in a six month period. That works out to about 4 hours per day. Sick! He claims, "Losing my job bothers me far less than losing Facebook ever could." Come on man? Facebook? The only time I had that discussion with myself was when I needed to leave work for a Dixie Chicks meet and greet and private concert. I told Destiny that if my office told me I couldn't leave then I'd have to quit. Yes, the Dixie Chicks do mean more to me than saving Jewish Souls. I am a sick, sick person.

Just filled in my brackets

Just entered my brackets for the Sweet 16. I'm guessing OSU beats Maryland by 5 in the Final. My choices are based on an exact science called the "Susanne Method". Its a blend of supporting teams I've grown up caring about through the early rounds (UCLA, USC) to advancing teams that I think will bring out hot celebs as they root for their favorites (think Matthew McConnaughey ripping off his shirt after a Texas victory) to picking who I think will be this year's George Mason longshot (I've chosen Virginia Commonwealth to make it to the third round beating both Duke and Pitt before losing to UCLA). I created a pool on Facebook that I invite you all to join. Its called Yeshiva U should be in the Sweet 16! and the tagline is: "For all of us yidden in the Heights and beyond that wish there were more Yeshiva basketball phenoms. Tamir Goodman was not enough!" Now I know what you're thinking, "but Susanne, you were a Yeshiva basketball phenom." You're right, I was. As a Lady Macabbee, I once had 5 baskets in a single game. But I did not let it all go to my head. But thats neither here nor there. I hope you all join a March Madness pool because they are quite fun. Pick names out of a hat. Use a pin the tail on the donkey blindfold. But as Nike always said, Just Do It.

Raising kids in apartments

In many a conversation I've remarked how sad it would be to raise my children in an apartment. Now don't get me wrong, I've seen some fricken awesome apartments during my stay in New York. Once at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser that I volunteered at I couldn't tear my eyes away from the gorgeous penthouse view of Central Park. This joint had more square footage than my parent's two-story house. Plus it came with a full kitchen staff that the bitchy lady who owned it forced the Senator to meet and greet before the shindig began. If I were rich enough to own a penthouse with slaves, ahem, servants, I would move to the fricken burbs. I loved living in the suburbs. I love hopping in the car to drive (literally) across the street to pick up a carton of milk. I loved having a heated pool in the backyard (which we never used, it was there for show). I loved having a front yard on which all the neighbors dogs would come and crap. I loved watching the gardners come once a week and clean up after the dogs. But the thing I just might have loved most of all....was toilet papering other people's houses. My high school crew and I would go out fairly often and TP (as the kids these days call it) another, less cool individual's house. Myself, not being as fit as my friends, nor being the Captain of the soccer team, usually served as getaway driver. I was good at that job. I was also the only one sober. Prior to high school, in my not as cool years, I was the victim of a toiletpapering or two. The most traumatizing was the time my own soccer team had a sleepover that I was not invited to and they came and toiletpapered my house. But that not the worst part. The worst part was the girl's mom was frugal and instead of toiletpaper had them using shredded documents. Like bank statements, bills, and letters. My mom, pissed off cause she hates cleaning stuff up, went through the piles and deciphered a name from the statements. Discovering my teammate's father's name she didn't hesitate to call him on the phone at 7 AM Sunday morning. Needless to say, the girls all trekked back in their bathrobes to clean up the mess as my mom stood over them watching to make sure they didn't miss a piece. Time passed and my dad said I was going to be late for Sunday School. I hated Sunday School to begin with so having to leave the house and face the mortification made the circumstances far, far worse. But I did it, because a Jewish education is a sad thing to waste. The moral of this story is not the lesson I should have learned in junior high that I should have carried over to high school of not toiletpapering people's house because its thoroughly emabarrassing. No no. Its to not raise my children in an apartment. Why you might ask? Tonight I witnessed what may have been the saddest thing of my life. As I exited the A train on my way to basketball, I noticed that some kids had toiletpapered........the shrubbery in front of 10 Overlook Terrace. And a couple cars parked in front. Seriously, if we really believe the children are our future (sing it Whitney), we will give them lawns, and trees, and garages, and chimneys to toiletpaper. Not shrubbery. Seriously, I feel for them. My heart goes out.

Dougie's to Open New Cafe on Wilf Campus - News

Dougie's to Open New Cafe on Wilf Campus - News

Well, it looks like Lake Como pizza will not be the butt of the Mt. Sinai Purim Shpiel jokes next year, because they just might be strong armed out by this Kosher restaurant giant. But lets remember, the Dougie's Dairy on 72nd Street, although delicious and afforadble, lasted barely a year. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Stay tuned...

Purim Shpiel

Below is the Mt. Sinai Purim Shpiel. I did my best to bring on the funny, but with only 6 lines in the whole show, there wasn't much I could do. Enjoy!

My New York Times delivery guy sucks

I get the Times 7 days a week. For some reason the weekday delivery dude did not receive a new building key when we changed the locks to the building's main door. This means that I get my Saturday and Sunday papers delivered to my door while my weekday papers I pick up in my apartment's entry vestibule. This means that on Monday morning I don't always know what the weather is going to be like until I get downstairs, grab my paper, and scan the weather blurb on the front page. According to yesterday's copy of the NY Times, (which I base my Monday clothing choices on) today's weather should be in the high 50's/lower 60's, mild for this time of year. So I dressed accordingly based on that info. Today I'm wearing a t-shirt, cotton sweater, jean skirt without tights, tennis shoes, and a light spring raincoat. As I look out the window watching the freezing snow pour down I ponder the notion of a better system. Perhaps listening to Z100 for longer than "The Sleaze" would be a start. Wish me luck. Getting home is going to suck!

Paris' Prime Grill

Nope, Prime Grill is not opening an outpost in France. I was browsing a fave website TMZ early this week and kept reading stories and watching clips of Paris Hilton's recent birthday party. The kept saying the party was held in Los Angeles at Prime Grill. I thought that was an amusing coincidence. Theres a restaurant in LA that has the same name as a kosher hotspot in NY. Prime Grill on East 49th Street is the go to place for many wealthy business men that need to find kosher food and a classy locale. I've been there twice. Once with friends, the other for a SCW student council "event". You often encounter frum celebrities like Avraham Fried and...um, thats about it. Turns out they did in fact just open a Beverly Hills restaurant and it has become the "It" restaurant for young celebs. When Donald Trump wants to woo frum LA businessmen he takes them there. When kosher Golden Globe winner Sacha Baron Cohen's frum mom and dad are in from the UK, he brings them there. But the chophouse was put on the map last week when Paris chose Prime Grill Beverly Hills for her 26th birthday party. Come on. I know celebs like to waste money on stupid things. Like million dollar cars that they are just going to have impounded after their next DWI. But kosher food? Thats just crazy. If you're hungry, and you don't keep kosher? For God's sake, go to Fatburger or Pinks. Make me proud.

Segulah Kiddush

In my attempt to be the complete antithesis of the Jewish Feminist that I was labled in my previous blog post, I have decided to sponsor the upcoming Mt. Sinai Shabbos Mevarchim Kiddush. Why you may ask? As I entered the world of Orthodoxy I became familiar with the word segulah. Literally a treasure, its interpreted, by me at least, to mean mazel, or good fortune. Everywhere you go you find segulah. At weddings its a segulah for the kallah to pass around her jewelry to single friends at the chuppah. Its a segulah to take a swig of the germy leftover chuppah or sheva brachas wine. And my favorite wedding segulah, segulah challah. I love my carbs. Poppy seeds not as much, but yummy eggy challah is quite tasty.

Those were the first segulot I was introduced to. Then my friends started having babies. So my boss would bring cookies into the office after a bris and say eat this, its a segulah. He's a Rabbi so I believed him and ate it. I am not yet pregnant so so much for that.

I take part in segulah behavior because who knows what might help my situation. I'm a single chick. I'd like to get married so I can move out of God awful New York. If someone tells me eat a cookie, it might help, I say mezonos and eat the cookie. When I was on Birthright the Summer of 2003 I was the oldest person on my bus. I signed up for a "frum" trip because I didn't want my first Israel experience to be defined by how many Tel Aviv discos I visited or how many beer bongs I drank or how many hookahs I smoked. Little did I know that this meant 23-year-old working girl Susanne was going to be surrounded by 18-year-old Lubavitch girls from a seminary in Florida. Their only goal during this trip was to convince our madricha to take us to Amukah, the tomb of Jonathan ben Uzziel (who was said to have written the Kabballah), where unmarried people travel to be granted blessings to find a marriage partner. Well, 3 1/2 years later and I bet half of that bus is married with children. Maybe I didn't daven hard enough. Or, Chabad's acceptance of marriage after 3 shidduch dates has made it easier for those girls to get hitched. Who knows? All I know is when we arrived I got out of the bus, went into the tomb, and said a perek of Tehillim. Why? Because I was there.

Another segulah I recently learned about was that it is customary for a couple to sponsor a kiddush when they have a daughter. When you have a son, you have a bris and a Seudas Mitzvah (festive meal) follows the circumcision. So I guess someone long ago said, we really should encourage people that have daughters to celebrate their good fortune by having a kiddush. Preferably one with chulent. Everyones loves chulent. So now all my friend's that have daughters get together with others in their shuls who have been blessed with a little girl and do a kiddush. Somehow over the years a rumor was inserted into this idea that girls who were never given a kiddush to celebrate their birth would never be married, or something to that effect. Being a baal teshuva, I kind of doubt that my parents sponsored a kiddush in my honor. I don't think they even went to temple back then. I don't even think they knew what a kiddush was back then, other then it being the blessing over the Shabbos wine.

I saw today on one of the many Yahoo groups of which I'm a member, that a shul in Passaic is making a kiddush available for women like myself to finally experience this long overdue kiddush, and hopefully wash away that bad fortune that our parents afflicted on us years ago. So I picked up the phone to call the lady and express my interest when I realized I could donate to my own shul's kiddush that week with the same goal in mind. I realize I can't be the only person in the neighborhood that would be interested in being part of this. Already, I have one friend who is FFB that doesn't think her parents held one for her, and even one guy interested in being part. Again, I'm not saying that sponsoring a segulah kiddush is going to be the answer to my prayers, but who knows? I'm going to be there. I might as well grab a bowl of chulent and hope I meet my bashert.

P.S. If you would like to join be part of this kiddush feel free to email me. Even if you aren't a member of Mt. Sinai, even if you live in Antartica. If you are a women who never had a kiddush, or you have a daughter that you'd like to shower with this extra blessing, please let me know.

Auditions for Mt. Sinai Announcer

For those of you who know me, you know two things.

1) I'm loud and 2) I wasn't always religious.

Last Friday night, as usual, the shul's former Vice President rose to the bimah to make the Shabbos Announcements. At the end he announced that he is being replaced. Admittingly, he sometimes rambles on about certain things, especially personal Mazel Tovs, but the fella also represents old school Mt. Sinai. He raised his children in this neighborhood and has been a member for many years. For that reason I have never minded him getting up there. Every week, we saw the joy he felt looking into the full pews. As recently as 6 years ago, those same pews sat nearly empty.

He announced to the full sanctuary that it has been decided by the shul board that he should step down from his position as announcer so we could make way for a new, younger member to take his place. In fact, he announced that there would be an "American Idol" like contest to find his successor. I asked some of my shul board member friends and they confirmed that it had been decided at a recent meeting. I even inquired whether or not a female would be eligible and was told that they were not and was given a litany of excuses for this.
Excuses:
1) The announcements take place during davening. Rebuttal: They COULD be made after davening concludes, just as we did when we began Mt. Sinai's Young Leadership minyan following our mass exodus from the Bridge Shul. Why did we leave the Bridge Shul? Because the leadership was not open to making changes to accomodate the influx of the Washington Heights young modern members. Hmmmm.

2) The set up of the sanctuary would require the woman ascending the bima. Rebuttal: The woman could speak at the men's section entrance, opposite the Ark. The section is set up so that the men are facing one another, not the Ark, so to see the announcer they could look to their right instead of their left.

3) Rabbi Schnaidman made up his mind that it cannot be done. Rebuttal: Has anybody, EVER, heard the Rabbi actually say this, and if he has, has it been in the last 20 years? I think we are giving too little credit to our Rabbi. Admittingly, he's been in the rabbinate for many years, but even he has acknowledged that this shul has changed since he ascended its pulpit.

That said when I was browsing our community website Maalot I came across this post:

Mt. Sinai Announcement Auditions

So You Think You Can Announce?

Mt. Sinai will be holding open auditions to find the brightest post-tefillah announcements talent.

Beginning this week (March 2-3), applicants (shul members only) will be given one chance, a single trip to the podium, to prove that they have what it takes to clearly and concisely convey the week's announcements to the kehilla. After every applicant has had a turn, shul members will be directed to the shul website where they will vote for their favorite and decide who will be the new voice of Mt. Sinai.

Auditions will end on March 24 (latest) and the winner, decided by the online polling, will begin his duties after Pesach.


Mt. Sinai will be holding open auditions to find the brightest post-tefillah announcements talent? How can that possibly be the case when women aren't even allowed to "audition"? Brightest MALE talent more like, which hey, doesn't say much in my book. Other than the last line which says he "will begin his duties after Pesach" there is no other way to know its only open to men. I of course replied "Maybe you should clarify this is for males only since talented females are unable to attain the position. Although that in my opinion should be open to debate as well." Hopefully this will spark a conversation in our shul. Plenty of modern Orthodox shuls, including some in Teaneck and Mount Vernon, allow women to address the congregation after services. Why should we be so backwards.

And for all the naysayers, maybe its time to stop hiding behind the Rabbi. When I spoke to people that I'm pretty sure were personally opposed to it, they said, welllll I'm alright with it, but Rabbi Schnaidman is not. If you're not okay with it say so. If you really do support it, encourage a dialougue.

Now, back to where I started. I'm loud and engaging. I could potentially be a wonderful after-davening announcer. I am also a Baal Teshuva so I have definitely stepped foot on bimas in the past, including at my Bat Mitzvah where I stood in my pink talis and read my Torah Portion just like all the other boys and girls in my class. I refuse to accept the fact that being Orthodox means unyielding to change. Our communities have b"H become more welcoming to diversity. In Teaneck, you've got one dude in a black hat with a sheital wearing wife and he sits in shul next to a guy in a srugy who's wife doesn't cover her hair and wears pants. Somehow they've accepted how the other practices his religion. Each of their homes is Kosher and Shomer Shabbos.

The thing that irks me the most is that Mt. Sinai is soooo proud of itself for setting up this exciting, revolutionary contest to replace a guy who actually deserves to be giving the announcements. He is going to be replaced by some hotshot guy who just signed his second one-year lease on his Bennett Ave apartment. I'm not saying I necessarily want this job. But I do think I'd be good at it. I do think I deserve a fair opportunity to "audition". I am a member of this shul, paying dues which have climbed to a rate that frankly, I'm not sure I can afford any longer. And what do I get in return? Two dollars off at any shul event? A monthly newsletter? It shouldn't just be a punchline for the Purim Shpiel. These are real concerns that I have. Its not a joke. I refuse to hide behind the Rabbi. If we do not stay open minded, some of us just might need to find someplace that is.

When Kashrus Alerts are funny.

Sixteen Bean Soup Mix with Ham Seasoning UPC #75480753595:

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company-Montvale, NJ: This product bears an unauthorized OU symbol and is being withdrawn from the marketplace. Individuals spotting this product are requested to contact the Orthodox Union at 212-613-8148 or via email at kashalerts@ou.org.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I come across a product like that, I first get ecstatic that I can once again taste the yumminess of pork products (the delicious fake soy bacon provided by Morningstar does not always cut it), but before I throw the can in my cart, I will first peruse the Nutritional Content chart on the side of the can. I'm sure after listing all 16 beans used to make this delightful soup, there would be some reference to ham. Ham comes from pigs and the last time I checked, pigs are treif. Whoever needed this kashrus alert to inform them that their ham soup was treif, God help them.

Quick side story: One of the most yummy kosher meals is making a Mornigstar Bacon Cheeseburger using one of their veggie burgers and their fake bacon with a slice of my favorite Smart Beat cheese. A few years ago I was eating one of these for dinner when my Breur's neighbor stopped by my apartment and told me how wonderful my meal smelled. B"H she didn't ask what I was eating. Had I said a bacon cheeseburger she probably would have dropped dead.

BREAKING NEWS: Addison leaving Greys!

My favorite character (behind both George and the Nazi and way the hell above Meredith) Dr. Addison Montgomery may very well be leaving Grey's Anatomy. Bad news? Well, on the upside, Reuters claims its to film and star in....drum roll please...a Grey's Anatomy spin-off based on her role as a neonatal surgeon. No news on where it will be based, perhaps NYC, which hasn't had a good medical show in a long time (hello anyone remember this Fall's 3 lbs? Yeah, neither do I). The two-hour pilot is expected during May sweeps. I'm kind of undecided on how I feel. I really like her on Grey's but maybe her storyline lately is a little flat, although it would pick up if she'd just hook up with Carev already! But if its all about slimming the large cast, my first choice is Isaiah Washington. He needs to go!

Happy Ash Wednesday!

I know Ash Wednesday is a solemn occasion for my Christian friends, but to me, its my favorite New York City holiday. Unfortunately I read a blurb in the paper yesterday citing that alternate side parking has been suspended today due to Ash Wednesday. Its a shame because the specialist part of the day is the 10 minutes it takes you to recall why the heck all these people have dirt on their foreheads. I usually have to walk by a minimum of 17 people before the thought occurs to me that they purposely had the ash placed there. Its hard for a nice Jewish girl to fathom getting dirty on purpose. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and always takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday. During Lent devout Christians usually choose to give up something that they usually do, like eating meat on Fridays. Jews would never choose to give up anything. Not being able to eat bread for a week during Passover is a huge affliction in my book and not something I would willingly take on. To all you Christians out there...RESPEK!!! If you need me, I'll be spending my lunch hour sitting outside the church on 37th and Broadway in awe of the revelers receiving their ashes. Mad props.