So it's technically past a week... by a few hours.  But here's my response to the challenge:

  Something that made me pause. This Shabbos, there was a farbrengen (a gathering of souls).  One of the things said there struck me.  Within Judaism, there does exist the concept of asceticism, of self-abnegation.  There is that which is inherently holy (required), that which is inherently unholy (prohibited), and then there is that which is inherently neither.  These last are things like the internet, that are permitted, and one can choose to use them for either holy or unholy purposes. 

 There is a certain, optional, high level of service in Judaism in which people deny themselves (or greatly reduce the amount of use of) that which is permitted.  In some yeshivas (Jewish learning schools), it is in vogue to practice this.  For instance, to not use condiments on food, such that the sole purpose of the food is its nutrition, and not its taste.

However, one of the people at the farbrengen said in the name of one of his teachers (note that I'm paraphrasing) , that while not putting condiments on your food is fine and all, the real self-abnegation is going to bed on time so you can be well-rested for classes.

I was inspired to write a series of blogs about the view of women in Judiasm after studying Judaics for five weeks in NY. It really peaked my interest...

A couple of months ago an acquaintance of mine mentioned that he thought the morning blessing which states "Thank you G-d for not making me a woman." was chauvinistic. My reply to his statement was that this translation alone with out interpretation can be misleading. I told him that to most people who have not had the opportunity to learn about the morning blessings will more then likely take it the wrong way, but in reality there are a few ways of explaining this blessing that are not so un-P.C.

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Judaism.  Religion?  Race?  Nation?  People?

Perhaps.

To me, "the Jewish people" are a family.  3 fathers, 4 mothers... then going down to Egypt as a family of 70 people.  By the time the Torah is given, there are 600,000... and that's just counting the adult males!  By that point, we're called a 'nation'.  Yet put two Jews together, even ones that call themselves atheists and don't know *anything* about Judaism beyond what's said in the media, and there will be an inexplicable bond between them.  It's a sense of... "whatever happens, this person is on my side.  They may be crazy to everyone else, but they won't mess around with me."  It's family. 

My first Jewish friend, I trusted more than anyone else in the world, even when I didn't know a thing about Judaism other than what I'd heard in the media.  This person was also the one that told me I was Jewish because my mother was.  We were crazy atheists, but we were also crazy atheist Jews.   Tony, wherever you are, I hope that you are safe, successful, and that you connect to your Jewish roots and to other Jews.