Update on Kosher - My apologies for neglecting this journal for a while now. Things continue to go well, albeit a bit slow. We had a class for a month at the synagogue on "Jews in the Middle Ages" which was enjoyable to attend. I made it to a few Friday night services, and then I've been gone on weekends frequently since.

Most notably, I'd been struggling with health and food, and how I wanted to approach "kosher" or "kosher enough" for me. For maybe a year and a half now, I'd settled on "If it's my choice, I only choose kosher meats" and "if someone else serves it to me, I'll be okay with things like chicken or lamb or turkey that didn't come from a kosher butcher." The problem is that I have spent months and months eating out or eating on the run or eating solitary meals at work. I've bought food at the grocery store or Trader Joe's for work, and eaten either sushi or fish or vegetarian meals from restaurants. Basically, my entire protein intake was reduced to just fish, because I haven't been to the kosher butcher in forever.

I think that this has just become too strict for my health. Besides last December's scare with a numb tongue (which went away with daily vitamins and food variety), my latest problem has been a rash of hives (which could be an allergic reaction or an unknown cause or my biggest fear, some sort of dust mite or bed bug) and now constant cravings for protein. Because I began to worry that maybe my fish-intake was more excessive that is good for my health, I think I've concluded that (a) I'm not getting enough non-fish protein and (b) I'm not getting enough food variety at all, with my current incarnation of "kosher" or "kosher enough." So I've decided I'm relaxing my rule, and I'm allowing all chicken, all turkey, all lamb again.

As for the rash, hydrocortisone seems to help a little, although I find myself completely dehydrated in the morning, parched and dry mouth, if I've applied creme before bed. Benedryl didn't help, and only made me sleep too hard. I'm planning to wash all my bedding in hot water laundry (again), possibly once a week, to ensure that it's not some sort of mite picked up g-d knows where. And after that, I need to schedule a trip to the doctor's, to examine the hives and make sure they're not some sort of horrible health trend that I'm ignoring.

But yeah, back to a more relaxed kosher, to see if that helps with my health.

Weddings and Things - Of the 4 weddings I attended this summer, 3 of the 4 were partially or primarily Jewish. Matt and Tamara's was probably closer to Conservative, although she has not converted as far as I know, and I'm not sure if she plans to -- she did however crochet kippot for all the wedding party, and embraced many Jewish symbols in their service. David and Juliette have embraced an Orthodox approach, although not everyone at the wedding was comfortable with that yet. There were quiet murmurs about "you cannot touch him/her, you cannot hug them" because of the "no touching someone of the opposite sex except your spouse or immediate family" that they asked us to respect. It was interesting and challenging, for me to see a more strict interpretation of Judaism. Finally, Ben and Erika's wedding was again a mixed-couple, and just had some nods towards her love for Judaism, but mixed respectfully with his non-religious approach. The wording of the ketubah was very careful and egalitarian, and no reference to "according to the Laws of Moses." But there was still a chuppah, ketubah, seven blessings, and breaking the glass.

Another adult Hebrew language course is starting up again, which I plan to enroll in. And I recently renewed my friendship with my first Hebrew instructor, when he helped with consultation on the Ketubah that my friend Laurie and I did for Ben and Erika's wedding.

After that, I'll have the chance to attend services in a few weeks when I fly out to FL to see an old college friend. I may have other things to say about that visit later, but for now, just smile with me as I plan for my trip in sixteen days. *grin*

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Graham, for all your intense assistance and strong friendship. I'm glad I can somehow also be a blessing in your life.