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Live long and prosper: How Nimoy's Judaism shaped Spock's world

We're in the midst of the High Holy Days, the period between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and I just came across an apropos video excerpt of a talk by Leonard Nimoy, the actor famous for his role as First Officer Spock...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 17, 2012 11:19 PM

Keeping kosher in Tulsa

In case you missed it, Joseph Hamilton, restaurant reviewer for Urban Tulsa Weekly had a cover story last week that at least partly answered a question I've long pondered: how would one go about keeping kosher in Tulsa? I'm a brother of Zeta Beta Tau, which was founded as a...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 14, 2010 11:41 PM

Kol Nidre online

In college I became a brother of Zeta Beta Tau, a historically Jewish fraternity that became non-sectarian in the '50s. About a third of the brothers in our chapter were Jewish. They came from all over the country, from different backgrounds and had widely different approaches to religious observance. From...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 23, 2009 6:56 PM

Happy Sun Day

Today, I learn from Ron Coleman, is the once-in-28-years recital of Birkat Hachama, the Blessing of the Sun, on the day when, according to the Talmud, the sun returns to the starting point in its cycle, the same place it was when it came into being on the fourth day...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 8, 2009 5:19 PM