Religion
Happy Passover
Happy Passover everyone! I am offline tomorrow and the next day. Thursday, I am speaking at Market St. Louis and then heading back to New York later that day. Have a wonderful Passover!
Religion
Jewish Prayer Times While Flying
Ever since building the Zmanim (Jewish times) feature in the iPhone Siddur I have been intrigued by the algorithms that go into calculating these times. For those of you who are programmers, there is an open source project on this at KosherJava where you can dig into that code. I am flying to Israel soon
Religion
Get Your Updated iPhone Megillah
Apple approved a semi-large update to our FREE iPhone App for Purim, the Megillas Esther iPhone App. We made some big improvements to this holiday app, just in time for Purim, which is just about a week away. First change we made was to add the brachos (blessings) before and after the reading. Here is
Just InterestingReligionTravels
Praying Leads To Flight Emergency Landing: Tefillin Bomb Scare
My Dad sent me an article from JPost named Tefillin causes bomb scare on US flight (FYI, my dad uses the email this to a friend feature). The story is interesting. A 17 year old boy took out his Tefillin on a flight, in order to pray the morning Jewish services. The thing was, he
Religion
Chanukah Is Different As a Parent
This is my first Chanukah (Hanukah) as a dad and it is different from my previous Chanukahs. Now, instead of me getting presents, the presents are all given to my daughter. Let me tell you, my daughter really ‘cashed in’ this Chanukah. She got tons of toys and even some jewelry. Of course, I had
FamilyHomeyReligion
Building the Snap Sukkah
As you know, Sukkots is around the corner. I got my Lulav & Esrog and I have built my Sukkah. I bet this is an interesting for non-Jewish people to see Jews practicing (people shaking trees and fruits and living in a temporary house, outside of your real house – real weird, no?). In any
Religion
Got My Lulav & Esrog (אתרוג) For Sukkots
Last night, I purchased my (and two others) Lulav & Esrog (אתרוג) for the holiday of Sukkots. The past few years, basically since I have been married, I have rarely picked out my Lulav and Esrog. Why? Well, my father-in-law did, so I didn’t have to go on an airplane with it. This time, the
Just FunnyJust WeirdReligion
Dressed Like a Pirate In Synagoge on Rosh Hashanah
Friday night is the start of the two days of Rosh Hashanah, but did you know that Saturday is Talk Like a Pirate Day? You see the pickle I am in? I don’t know if I should come to synagogue (shul) dressed in a pirate costume or if that would be just too over the
FoodReligion
I Made a Challah
I made what? It is called Challah (see Wikipedia). Basically, it is bread that is braided and eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays. Here is a picture of it: Okay, fine – I didn’t make it. My wife made it and I came down stairs to see her status with the Challah and
ReligionTravels
Kosher Near Googleplex – Mountain View – The Kitchen Table
One of the worst parts of going to conferences is the lack of kosher places to eat. It is not an issue in New York or Chicago (places can be far to get to in Chicago). But it is an issue in places like San Jose and Seattle, and so on. Last night, right before
