Tag — You’re it!

The Babka Nosher has tagged me with a Meme of 7. How exciting! I feel like I’m now part of the “in-crowd” at school.

Sure, selecting 7 interesting facts about one’s self sounds simple. But when push comes to shove, maybe I’m not as interesting as I like to believe…

1. My first international trip was to Sweden with Pepgiraffe. We were 11 and 9 years old — and travelled as unaccompanied minors! To visit business friends of our grandparents. And these were the days before cell phones and email!

2. I am a linguistic failure! And it is not due to a lack on interest or effort. I have studied English, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, French, German, Aramaic, and American Sign Language and have met with little success. Interestingly, it is American Sign Language that was the easiest for me. Using a completely different part of the brain, ASL required no auditory processing on my part.

3. I completed my first (only, last!) marathon in October 2005. Having an early midlife “thing,” I decided that I wanted to push myself really hard as well as make some type of significant contribution not as a rabbi but just as a regular person. I raised over $5,000 for the Leukemia &Lymphoma Society, ran the Nike Women’s Marathon, managing to complete all 26.2 with a pulled Iliotibial Band (that was around mile 14).

4. According to the American Jewish Archives, I am the first (and only so far) female rabbi to serve a congregation with her father.

5. I have been a voracious reader since the age of 3 and a half, typically completing several books a week.

6. I studied piano for 13 years and am just awful! It was not a total waste, however, as it provided me with a strong background in music theory. A few years ago, I switched to guitar and am happy to report that it is a much better instrumental fit!

7. I am a conflicted liberal, traditional, frum, progressive, Reform Jewess!

And so I now tag the following: Phyllis, Hilary, Pepgiraffe, Ezer K, Jessie, Howard, and Rachel.