NLTD in Celebrity Gift Bags?

I got a call today from Nancee Borgnine from an event and PR company called "Connected" asking us to bring No Limit Texas Dreidel to the American Music Award's "Celebrity Gift Suite". It's not free of course, not to mention the cost of flying out to LA and staying at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills. But it sounds terribly exciting and oh, for the chance to get No Limit Texas Dreidel in a big Jewish star's hands: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, Madonna... That'd be amazing...

Invited Celebrities Include:
Justin Timberlake- Beyoncé - Linkin Park - Daughtry - Rihanna - Jimmy Kimmel - Fergie - Avril Lavigne - Carrie Underwood - Rascal Flatts - Maroon 5 - Toby Keith - Robin Thicke - Norah Jones - Tim McGraw - The White Stripes - John Mayer - Akon

I'm so out of the pop music scene, I don't know who half these people are. Maybe Jimmy Kimmel will bring Sarah Silverman. OOooo, I'd love to get a NLTD tattoo on her!

What do you think? Should I stay or should I go?

What's a Jew to do?

If I was a Jew in San Francisco I'd be at Progressive Jewish Alliance gathering this Thursday in Berkeley. PJA will be screening Hineini, a documentary film entitled "Here I am" in Hebrew, about a student coming out as a lesbian and establishing a gay-straight alliance at a Jewish high school in Boston. You can preview the film here, on the Keshet website.

The screening is part of PJA's marriage equality campaign, "Bringing the Orange Under the Huppah." PJA is asking that straight couples include an orange under their wedding canopy as a show of support for marriage equality. Read more about PJA's campaign.



The orange under the huppah is an extension of the new tradition of putting an orange on the Passover seder plate. The orange has become a symbol of Jewish inclusion of gays and lesbians and, in the words of the inventor of the Passover tradition Susanna Heschel, anyone who is "marginalized within the Jewish community."

Jewish opinion about homosexuality and gay marriage is heated, complex, complicated and way beyond the scope of this blog. But basically, Orthodox opposes, Conservative opinion is mixed, Reform is accepting, and Reconstructionist and Humanistic Judaism support marriage equality. A nice primer is Wikipedia's article on Homosexuality and Judaism.

No matter how you feel about homosexuality Hineini is sure to give you much to think, discuss and argue about and all Jewish denominations support that.

Bringing the Orange under the Huppah
Thursday, October 25, 7:30 pm
JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St, Berkeley
Click here for more information about the event.

Do you look Jewish?

In this month's PresenTense Magazine (which I absolutely adore) the cover article is, "You Don't Look Jewish" which profiles converts who, because of their black or Hispanic or [insert non-Caucasian ethnicity] heritages don't have the stereotypical European/Semitic appearance. Sure converts may not "look Jewish" but many Jews (maybe most -- who knows --) don't "look Jewish." One of my favorite groups on Flickr (the online photography community) is Jewish Faces M&Ms. The organizer of the group writes, "we are all colors ..like my favorite candy." There are 1,120 photos and you can watch the slideshow to see how many different faces and "looks" there are.