Odds and End

Been reading a lot about Hasidic Judaism lately, and will blog some more about that later this week. But for now, take a listen to this piece on a new documentary called "Divan" by Pearl Gluck -- that looks at her quest to reconnect with her family's Hasidic Jewish culture, a culture she left behind.

A few other fun pieces to look at:

A story about Koniakow, a town in Poland that was famous for centuries for making clerical garbs--when the town fell on hard times, it found new life making thong underwear.

here's a slice of the piece:

The skills that had been passed down through the generations, from mother to daughter, were still in abundance, but the market--mainly clerical vestments and household decorations--was disappearing

Then along came the thong.

The unlikely confluence of traditional lace, Internet marketing and man's apparently boundless desire to buy something skimpy and sexy for his girlfriend or wife has dramatically revived Koniakow's lacemaking industry.

"We weren't selling much lace, so we had to think of something," said Malgorzata Stanaszek, 30, who, like almost all of the women in the village, has been making lace since childhood.

Beliefnet.com had this piece with the title: Is Credit Card Debt a Sin?

And the Salt Lake Tribune had this fun piece on a national Jewish chicken soup contest