I just returned from a trip to Denver. I spoke for the Hillel there at a funky art gallery. Awesome venue. I always like to speak for college students, and especially to Hillel donors. I share what a huge influence Hillel had on me during my 12 years of undergraduate and graduate school at UCLA, and how Hillel shaped my Jewish adulthood and life in ways no other organization ever has. It was a very nice trip.

Here are three things I am grateful for from the trip:

1. Breastfeeding mama on my airplane. When I see babies boarding planes I am also boarding, I get nervous. I am very jittery on planes as it is, and a screaming small person on planes makes me even more jittery. Kids and babies are like a fuse about to burst at any minute; they make me anxious even though I know it’s normal and natural blah blah blah. Read the rest of this entry →

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• Tags: breastfeeding, featured, speaking, travel

I was in New York this week to speak at The Jewish Center in Manhattan on Tuesday and the Hebrew High School of New England benefit in West Hartford, CT last night.

Tuesday night at TJC was a sold out (600 people!) crowd. I was the first woman to speak as part of a lecture series started by a prominent family in Manhattan and the first time they have sold out. That felt really neat, and it was such an amazing diverse community. The Los Angeles Modern Orthodox community is very homogeneous for the most part, and it’s both startling and grounding to come to a place like TJC where I meet men and women who are such a neat blend of modern and traditional. I felt very supported in my struggles towards observance in a secular world and I really felt like people don’t feel the need to “box me in” here as much as in Los Angeles or on the internet! Read the rest of this entry →

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• Tags: featured, Judaism, new york, speaking, travel