If I stick my foot in my mouth and there is no one around, do I still make an ass out of myself?

Last week, in the first of what is quickly becoming a lot of posts about Beth El of South Orange, NJ, I incorrectly identified one of the service leaders as “Abigail, who I’m guessing is like 15 years old.”

She pointed out to me during services yesterday that she is not Abigail, but Sharon. And that she is 20, not 15. For a 22-year-old who still doesn’t need to shave every single day to look clean-shaven, that’s quite an idiotic assumption on my part.

I apologized to Sharon when she pointed it out to me and then made fun of myself a little bit. I thought I’d go ahead and do that here too. I’ve also corrected the original post.

The good news is that I didn’t pull the name Abigail totally out of my ass. Sharon’s younger sister is named Abigail and she is–you guessed it–actually 15. She’s also, like her sisters, an accomplished Torah reader.

In other news, I’m on a train to Baltimore right now. From there, it’s on to whatever The Conversation NY is. While I’m there, I hope to figure out why something called The Conversation NY is being held in a place that is decidedly not New York.

I’m back in Jersey on the 14th. The next day, it’s off to Austin for about 10 days.

Shavua tov.

A gritty scan of my JTA piece from the Austin Jewish Outlook

OK. My Dad e-mailed me this scan of my JTA article as it appeared in the Austin Jewish Outlook. Click on the image below (I don’t know why the image isn’t working!) or here for the full-size image.

And, as my Dad pointed out, let’s all just take a moment to appreciate that there is an ad for a business called “Dogadillo: Stylish Essentials” at the bottom of the page. God, I love Austin.

Also, not to pick nits, but who puts a drop cap on a dateline?

Shabbat Shalom, y’all

Chanukah – Day 1 – Stealing a miracle

It’s no secret that Chanukah is my favorite Jewish holiday and that I am a big apologist for what many have called America’s over-attention to a minor holiday. To celebrate Chanukah here at The Shuckle, I’ll be trying to post about Chanukah every day for the next eight days.

By way of this first day’s post, I’ll relate to you the absurd tale my Dad told me over the phone last night.

Back home, in Austin, our synagogue’s sisterhood has a gift shop. Like sisterhoods do. And in this gift shop, one thing they sell is electric menorahs. This gift shop has an exterior window. A few nights ago, someone broke into the gift shop through the window. They stole nothing but three electric menorahs.

A block or two away, in the neighborhood behind the synagogue, a neighbor noticed someone plugging electric menorahs into an outside electrical outlet. They thought this was odd behavior, so they called the cops. By the time the cops had arrived, the menorah thief had sped off on his getaway bicycle.

How completely strange is that?

Chappy Chanukah