Five Questions from a Friend and Does Anyone Want to Be Interviewed?

Seltsame wrote in her LiveJournal (Wed, Aug. 10th, 2005, 10:52 pm)...

The Rules
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview Me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others asking to be interviewed comment, you will ask them 5 questions.

In response to my volunteering, Seltsame asked:

When (and how if you don't mind answering) did you decide to be a rabbi?

Oy. (This is always a question.) The first time I thought I might become a rabbi, I was 15. It was just a feeling I had during a conversation with my friend Chad. We were standing in the lobby of my old synagogue, Beth Sholom in Las Vegas. I then put that totally out of my mind... I decided instead that I would become the first female, Jewish Secretary of State, and that I would solve all the world's problems and help create an environment of lasting peace in the Middle East. That lasted about two weeks into college. Then I wanted to be a professor of film. Then I wanted to be a professor of Talmud (an important Jewish text that was composed in the fourth through sixth centuries), because God is more important than movies. As a film professor, I'd spend much time watching movies in the dark and writing articles almost no one would read. And I thought that teaching aspects of Judaism would effect people's lives more deeply. And I decided that I didn't want to be a "secular" academic. Plus, people tend to come to me with their woes and seek out counseling. So, I thought, being a rabbi was a logical choice... particularly since I knew a lot of rabbis without pulpits.
In rabbinical school, I got burned out from academia and fell in love with children. So I worked with children for several years, including the first three years after I was ordained. But Jewish educational settings have many of the same drawbacks as being a pulpit rabbi, and I ended up feeling totally consumed by my work and was eaten alive by my congregational board. (OK, not literally.) Plus, I really am a slacker when it comes to many aspects of Jewish law. and practice. (I will skip incriminating details.) And I was really bored working with children. Not enough use of brain (although much use of heart and other important aspects of personality). So, I have hung up my rabbinic hat and reverted to what I really wanted to do: be a professor.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

I believe that ice cream should be chosen to reflect the moment in which it is consumed. In other words: it just depends. If I had to choose one: Ben and Jerry's Brownie Batter.

What other hobbies do you have besides knitting?

I have taken up (and neglected) many hobbies. I have made jewelry. I can paint pretty decently (enough so that some of my friends have wanted to hang my work). I also like collage. But mostly I write. I tend toward poetry and prose poems. I also like to walk, hike, and do yoga. And I read a lot.

Where did you grow up?

Baltimore, outside Philadelphia, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Columbia (Maryland), Las Vegas. Have lived in California longer than any one of those places... 13 years this month.

And just because...sex or chocolate?

Damn that's doozy! (Did I spell that right?) I'm going to assume that we're talking fantastic sex vs. fantastic chocolate.... and I'm going to say: sex.

**WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED?**