I am officially Jewish!

Hello all! It has been ages since I have posted I know and I deeply apologize for that. This spring has been a very busy one for me. I moved jobs from the University Archives to the Psychology department and I have been in school. The other thing is I have been furiously studying and getting ready for my formal entry into the House of Israel as a Jewish man.

I need to give a bit of background here. I have been studying and learning and growing in my Jewishness for the last three years. As a child I was always curious about Judaism, from a holiday perspective. I wanted to know what all those extra holidays were on the calendar that no one I knew seemed to celebrate. Well in the third grade outside of Denver, Colorado I got a bit of an answer to my question. We were having an international themed christmas and my class drew Israel, so we learned a bit about Chanukah and we learned Havah Nagilah, and we learned to dance the Horah. Well I guess you could say that was my first Chanukah and that i was hooked. for years afterward my fascination was there but much like being gay I kept it to myself. Eventually it got to the point like being gay I could not stand it anymore. I was Jewish at heart and I needed to make that official and I needed to tell the world. So I contacted a Rabbi in Fayetteville, Arkansas where I was living at the time and thus my journey began.

I do not feel that my journey has ended though. Being Jewish is a life long journey that never ends. This has been a brief stop along my way of choosing a Jewish life and i want to share it with those of you out there who read my blog.

On April 29th 2006/1 Iyyar 5766 I went before the Beit Den, of Rabbi Eugene Levy, my dear friends Lynn Greenburg and Meg Marion and successfully answered their questions and became Jewish.

Below are some pictures from my special day.

Me on the Bimah with Rabbi Levy.

Me standing in front of the gorgeous Ark, at Temple B'nai Israel here in Little Rock.

Me hugging my friend Lynn after it was all over.

Me hugging Meg.

With my dear friends Jillian and Linda

Me with Meg and Lynn (my Jewish mother, everybody needs a Jewish mother)

Me with my parents who joined me for this wonderful occasion.

Me with my wonderful partner Michael

and below is Michael, Jillian, Myself, and Jillians Husband John.

This is a poem I read during my speech to my gathered guests. It is by Edmund Flegg.

I am a Jew because....

I am a Jew because the faith of Israel demands of me no abdication of the mind.

I am a Jew because the faith of Israel requires of my all the devotion of my heart.

I am a Jew because in every place where suffering weeps, the Jew weeps.

I am a Jew because the word of Israel is the oldest and the newest.

I am a Jew because the promise of Israel is the universal promise.

I am a Jew because for Israel, the world is not complete we are completing it.

I am a Jew because Israel places humanity and its unity above the nations and above Israel itself.

I am a Jew bacause, above the image of humanity, image of the divine Unity, Israel places the unity which is divine.


That's all for now folks, i am outtie for the moment. Just remember, trying to matter is much better than being good and doing well.

Shalom Y'all!


The Great Cranky One