This past weekend was one of the most relaxing ones I have had in a long time. gnomi and I went to her parents' house for shabbat, followed by the first two days of Passover. We ate, we slept, we read, we enjoyed the two seders, we slept some more, we spent time with friends and family, we slept some more...

You get the idea.

And now, of course, back to the real world. If anything happened over the weekend, assume I missed it...

Tags: jewish, personal

Last night, after I got home from class, Nomi and I performed the traditional search for chametz one does just before the Passover holiday. And, as you can see in Nomi's post At Chez Burstein, Everyone Helps Search for Chametz, we always get a little extra help from our friends....

Tags: jewish, silly

My younger brother alerted me to the fascinating news that mezuzot will be going into outer space next month.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a mezuzah is a small case placed upon the doorpost of a Jewish home. The mezuzah itself is mostly decorative, but inside the mezuzah is placed a scroll with a passages from Deuteronomy (chapter 6 verses 4-9 and chapter 11 verses 13-21). The mezuzah is not a good-luck charm, or anything like that; it is simply an indication that the family living in the home is Jewish and chooses to follow the commandment to place the mezuzah on the doorpost.

It turns out that astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who is Jewish, has decided to take two mezuzot into space next month when he travels on the shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. The mezuzot were designed by artist Laura Cowan; one looks like the Apollo spacecraft, and the other is shaped like the space shuttle.

Wisely, it appears that Chamitoff is not going to attempt to place the mezuzot on the outside of the space station hatch. But just having them present is nice symbolism.

Some references:
The Kosher Space Shuttle (Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews)
Up, up and oy vey – how I sent my mezuzot into space (Jewish Chronicle)
Tel Aviv mezuzot to blast off into the heavens (Jerusalem Post)

Tags: jewish, science, space

[The following is a personal anecdote about our past weekend trip to New York City. Just so you know what you're getting into before you start reading. The short version includes seeing friends, spending shabbat in Queens, and celebrating the recent wedding of my brother Danny and his wife Barbara. But the long version includes some pictures, so click on the link and enjoy.]

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I'd like to end this post with a philosophical note. This is the first time we've been back to New York City since my brothers and I sold Mom's house, and it felt odd. Nomi and I want to continue taking vacations to New York City to see friends, but we're going to have to start relying on some of those friends to host us on those vacations. I feel blessed by knowing that whenever I've mentioned this concern, we've been flooded with offers. Thank you all.

[For gnomi's take on the weekend, click here.]

Tags: jewish, mom, nyc, personal

One of my co-workers pointed me to the article Cracking the Code in the current issue of Reform Judaism magazine. It's a long article, but worth reading if you're fascinated by either genetics or Jewish history.

I've known for a while about one of the things the article mentions, which is the apparent genetic evidence about the kohanic line. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, in Judaism there is a group called the kohanim, who by tradition are accepted to have all been descended from the priestly class of ancient Israel. (The name "Cohen" tends to indicate someone who is considered part of this group.) Traditionally, kohanic status was determined by the male line, so even though my mother was a daughter of a kohein, I myself am not a kohein.

If you know anything about human genetics, you can see where this is going. The Y chromosome is the only one guaranteed to be passed from father to son, so anyone who claimed to be a kohein ought to have inherited a Y chromosome that went back for generations. (I'm simplifying here.) It turned out that almost 100% of Jewish kohanic males tested in an experiment in 1995 shared a genetic marker for a common ancestor, implying that the tradition was valid.

The article in Reform Judaism magazine discusses more recent experiments that show that the vast majority of Jews all over the world seem to share a common ancestry going back 4,000 years to the middle east. Unfortunately, the article doesn't include references, so I can't verify all the claims within. And there is one place where the writers seem to equate Orthodox Judaism with Lubavitch Chasidism. I suppose from the Reform Jewish perspective, it might be hard to distinguish, but this is the first time I've ever run across the claim that Orthodox Judaism strictly prohibits abortion.

Anyway, it's still a fascinating article.

Tags: jewish, science

Let's see....

Although I had a rather tiring week, I woke up early enough Saturday morning to get to shabbat services in time to be the tenth for the minyan. Given the fact that one of the nicest guys at the shul just lost his father and needs the minyan to say Mourner's Kaddish, I was very glad to be able to help him perform the mitzvah.

Then, shabbat afternoon, we had a chance to catch up on sleep. That was good.

Sunday morning, gnomi and I had brunch with two friends whom I met through the recent HRSFA reunion: Kevin & Rose Martin, and their kids. We're trying to get together with them once a month, and so far, it's working.

My good friend and fellow writer Jennifer Pelland (LJ: jenwrites) got a very nice write-up in the Sunday Boston Globe: Her niche: Writing in the outer limits of fiction. They also quoted me commenting on her writing:

Michael A. Burstein, a fellow writer, said Pelland's work has a rare brutal honesty.

"Even though Jen's stories spin out bizarre scenarios, I find I don't need to suspend my disbelief because her characters respond to their predicaments realistically," he said. "Jen is willing to go places in her fiction that most other writers, including myself, aren't brave enough to do."

(There's more if you want to click through to the article.)

And, finally, norda posted My daily appointment, in which she responds to what is apparently a Free Topic from something called LJ Idol. The topic was "My Favorite LJ User," and, um, she picked me.

I have to admit that my natural sense of modesty is warring with my natural sense of ego. Do I link people to her post? Do I quote from it?

Well, I already linked to it. Quoting it here would be superfluous, but let me just say, publicly, thank you norda, for making me feel like it all may be worth it.

Tags: jewish, personal, science-fiction

Once again, the kind folks over at SF Signal asked me to participate in their Mind Meld discussion. This time, the question was, "Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion?"

I'm not going to restate here what I said there; if you'd like to read it, you can click on the following link: Mind Meld: Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion? They got a lot of fascinating people to respond to the question, including Mike Resnick, Lou Anders, Ben Bova, Gabriel Mckee, Jay Lake, James Wallace Harris, Carl Vincent, Adam Roberts, Larry Niven, Andrew Wheeler, D.G.D. Davidson, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., John C. Wright, and James Morrow.

I'm amused to note that Mike Resnick "outed" me in his own response to the question, listing me as one of the Orthodox Jews in science fiction (along with Avram Davidson). He also notes that Gene Wolfe is a devout Catholic and that Ray Lafferty was a devout Catholic. What he doesn't note, however, is that there's a big difference between being observant Jewish and being observant something else in science fiction circles.

Basically, the question is: why do people in the science fiction community know that I'm religiously observant? Certain parts of American society tend to play religious observance and feeling close to the vest. We consider it something personal, and tend not to discuss it in depth with others unless invited to.

But when you're trying to observe Judaism at an Orthodox level, especially at a science fiction convention, you're faced with a lot of issues that push your observance to the forefront. Most of that has to do with the restrictions you place on your activities during the Jewish sabbath, which means not participating in certain convention events. Some of it also has to do with keeping the laws of kashrut, requiring you to bring your own food to the convention and to avoid the hotel restaurants. So you find yourself missing out on some of the social networking that takes place at a convention.

And of course there's the kippah (or yarmulke) that I wear. For conventions, I have a special kippah that shows a rocket ship flying through the universe. It was a birthday present given to me years back by vettecat, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I would always wear it at conventions. It gets a lot of attention; many fans have approached me at cons to compliment me on it – come to think of it, that's how I became friends with Farah Mendelson – and at the Nebulas last year, I even overheard Norman Spinrad commenting on it.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with the Mind Meld topic. Do I think science fiction is antithetical to religion? You can probably guess my answer at this point, but you might as well go over to Mind Meld and see for yourself.

Tags: conventions, jewish, personal, science-fiction

Over the past few days I've discovered that I've been mentioned a few times in various places.

First of all, I am somewhat flabbergasted to discover that I'm mentioned in the latest edition of the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History. The editors of that encyclopedia had asked shsilver to write their article on "American Jews and Science Fiction," which runs from page 507-511 of volume 2. shsilver has given me permission to quote the relevant passage here:

Similarly, "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" (2000), Michael Burstein's tale of a Holocaust survivor's granddaughter who is struggling with issues of assimiliation, reflects on what it means to be Jewish, perhaps as no other story since William Tenn's "On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi" (1974).

While the Holocaust is often at the core of stories of wish fulfillment, it has also been used to highlight questions of Jewish identity. Burstein's "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" indicates that the Holocaust has created a new urgency in the maintenance of Jewish identity, for, if Jews forget who they are, the Nazis will have won.

Burstein's "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" and Carol Carr's "Look, You Think You've Got Troubles" (1974) both take a serious look at intermarriage, one of the major issues of American Jewish identity. Both address the issue of a Jewish woman marrying a non-Jewish man, and, although they come to very different conclusions, both reaffirm a sense of Jewish identity.

I've known for a while that I had a Wikipedia entry, but to be mentioned in a print encyclopedia...it boggles my mind.

My second mention has little to do with me and much more to do with someone else. Yesterday's Boston Globe ran an article, True Stories by Kathleen Burge, all about the Boston paramedic who writes the blog Other People's Emergencies: Random Thoughts of an Urban Paramedic. I've been interested in the work of paramedics and EMTs for a long time, since my older half-brother Danny worked for many years as a paramedic on the night shift out of Harlem Hospital. The Globe reporter noticed that I'd commented a few times in the Urban Paramedic blog, and so she contacted me to ask why I read the blog. Here's what I said:

"I keep being fascinated by his stories," said Michael A. Burstein, a writer and editor from Brookline who says he reads Urban Paramedic nearly every day. "I'm probably one of his many readers who thinks that some publisher out there ought to offer him a book contract immediately."

Finally, the most personal mention I've had recently was by a good friend, scarlettina, who just published a brilliant story called After This Life in the science fiction webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show. She comments on the story over on the associated webzine blog, at Side-Show Freaks: "After This Life" by Janna Silverstein, and she notes the following:

It was science fiction writer Michael Burstein who led me to reading more thoroughly about the theory behind real teleportation. If I was going to write science fiction, he insisted (and quite wisely), the science had to be there. Part of me rebelled; I just wanted to write the story, dammit, and not bother myself with all that pesky research. He was right, of course. The reading was fascinating. In the end, the horror of what I discovered—that every teleportation would be a death—took me that last step toward making this story what it ultimately became when I submitted it to IGMS. Edmund’s insightful revision requests made me think about who would be willing to sacrifice lives to develop such technology.

So, all in all, it's been a good day for my ego. :-)

Tags: boston, jewish, personal, science-fiction, writing, writing-advice

On the Hebrew calendar, Saturday night and Sunday corresponded to 6 Shvat 5768. The significance of this date is that Mom died on 6 Shvat 5767.

In other words, from a religious perspective, my year of mourning is over.

The anniversary of Mom's death on the Gregorian calendar isn't until January 25, 2008, but as far as religious observance goes, I'm done. Starting tonight, I'm free to join in celebrations, and to attend live musical events and theater.

As it is, I spent the yahrzeit (Hebrew anniversary of Mom's death) engaged in nice, low-key activity. Last night, my younger brother called, and we talked for almost two hours about a lot of stuff.

Today, Nomi and I went out shopping in the early afternoon to get groceries for the Arisia science fiction convention next weekend. The supermarket was crowded, no doubt due to the predictions of a major snowstorm starting tonight, requiring all of New England to stock up on eggs, bread, and milk.

(Aside: this evening, as we were watching the news, Nomi and I played a game. Every time the newscaster said the word "snow," we shouted "SNOW!" It was fun.)

And this afternoon, Nomi and I went to a siyum and azkara at our synagogue, Congregation Kadimah-Toras Moshe. To explain those terms, a siyum is a completion of study, and an azkara is a remembrance. Both of these are often done in honor of someone recently deceased, and today happened to be thirty days since an honored member of our synagogue had passed away. Thirty days after a parent's death is the end of the shloshim period of mourning, so today was a significant day for the siyum.

Marvin Benjamin Levenson was an 85-year-old man whom Nomi and I first met in late 2006. At the time, we had no idea who he was; just a funny older gentleman who joked with Nomi when he discovered that she had started to help set out the food and drink for kiddush following morning services. Marvin became responsible for a new tradition at the shul, as it used to be that the only drink set out for the kiddush was wine. But Nomi and I don't drink alcohol, so she would always make sure that we each had a cup of grape juice instead. When Marvin found out, he asked us to provide him with grape juice as well, so Nomi poured three cups instead of two. Well, it soon became easier for Nomi to set up a plate of cups of grape juice, and to label it with a card, so as to differentiate it from the cups of wine. It proved so popular that we now have two plates of grape juice that Nomi sets up at the end of one table, and it's all because of Marvin.

Who, it turns out, had been instrumental in the creation of Kadimah-Toras Moshe as a combined synagogue in the 1960s. Marvin had also served as one of the most popular presidents of the synagogue.

After we learned of Marvin's death last month, we were saddened, and even more so when we discovered that his family lived in New Jersey and Israel, and so we would have no real chance to pay our respects. But the family grew up with Kadimah, and so they arranged for today's remembrance. Nomi and I went, and the shul was packed with more people than I had ever seen in there before. Marvin's four children and three of his grandchildren spoke, and they brought him to life for us. Marvin was a man who loved his family, giving charity, and Judaism. It was reassuring in some way to hear how the picture of their father and grandfather was consistent with the gentle, funny man that Nomi and I had gotten to know, all too briefly.

It was a very appropriate way to spend Mom's yahrzeit.

Tags: jewish, mom, personal

Next Tuesday, of course, is Christmas. If you're celebrating Christmas, may you have a merry one, full of happiness.

It's also Isaac Newton's birthday, something I always like to commemorate given my background in Physics.

And earlier in the month of December, I celebrated the festival of Chanukah. Let's take each of these in turn.

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So that's it. To all my Christian friends, as I said before, may you have a merry and joyous Christmas. To all my Jewish friends, I hope you had a happy Chanukah. To all my friends who celebrate some other holiday of the season, may it be for good. And for those of my friends who celebrate no holiday at all, may you enjoy a good start to the Gregorian New Year of 2008.

Tags: history, jewish, nyc, personal, science