Monday, August 23, 2010

Shana Tovah! It's gonna cost you.

Ilan and I have attended services at Beth El probably two or three times. (In other words, more than we have services at any other temple.) I liked High Holidays there last year, when I think we paid $50/ticket and got to attend one service each for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We bought the tickets through a coalition of East Bay congregations that allowed the more timid among us to dip our toes in the waters of a few different places. Options ranged from the sedate and comfortable (Beth El) to the clappy and dancey (Chochmat Halev).

Okay, anyway, I couldn't find those great $50 tickets this year, so I emailed Beth El directly to see about tickets and they cost $250 PER PERSON. Is that craziness? If Ilan and I pay the full amount, we will have purchased membership, anyway. But we're not going to do that. We're going to offer $100 or $150 for both of us, see if they accept that donation, and take it from there. I know Beth El has to pay for a whole slew of construction projects they completed a while ago, and I'm sure they're not the only ones charging this amount (or more), but I'm still a little shocked at the ticket price for these tickets! Don't they know I have a cat to feed?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Dude, Chelsea Clinton's husband is totally Jewish. Does anyone care?

Chelsea Clinton, a Methodist, and Marc Mezvinsky, a Jew, were recently married. Does anyone care that their marriage is interfaith? It seems easier to find articles that reference media attention to this controversy rather than the articles that actually call their marriage controversial. Has Chelsea successfully dodged an age old bullet? And, if so, how did her handlers and PR team make that happen? Or does the rule that says that Jewish men must marry Jewish women include an exception for brides-to-be who are the daughters of former US presidents? And does my distant ancestral relationship to Myles Standish count for anything?

Also, this piece on Jewcy is. . . okay. Maybe I just like it because I've never heard of the "Buttinskys." They sound fun.