How the new year for trees made me Jewish
Readers of this blog may have the impression that my interest in Judaism is only about half a year old, but I can actually trace my Jewish journey back to this very day 18 years ago, give or take a day or two. The story begins with one of my best friends from college, or rather with his sister. As I recall, she had somewhat recently married a Jew and was going through the process of converting to Judaism. Her brother, my friend, was picking up odd bits and pieces of Jewish culture and seemed to enjoy sharing them with me about as much as I enjoyed being shared with. Prior to that point, my exposure to Judaism was limited to having learned the phrase "L'chaim" from watching Fiddler on the Roof. That, and the fact that my family was awfully fond of Yiddish words like shnoz and toucus. So at some point, my friend invited me to come along with him to the house of one of his sister's new Jewish friends for a Tu B'Shevat Seder. I loved it – so much so that I still re...