San Francisco - Better as Radioactive Ash? Plus, Some need Clerical permission to EVEN SET FOOT in the Bay Area!
For the former, Angry Clam thinks so - he's up for nuking the city.

In all seriousness, I've alluded in this blog in the past to the religious nature of the rest of my family (they all converted to ultra orthodox judiaism when I was away at Northwestern during my freshman year...it was quite a shock coming back home). Anyway, I've been trying convince my two younger brothers for years to come visit me, both when I was at Northwestern for undergrad, and now Stanford for law school. The problems have always been - (1) how do I deal with meals for them, (2) how do I deal with prayer services for them, (3) how do I make sure they don't see immodestly clad women, etc.

Now, right before my middle brother Avi (aka Seth) is to depart for Israel for the last years of his bachlerhood, I float the idea to him and Tzvi (aka Harris) to come to California for their spring break. A new problem has arisen - in addition to the old meal/prayer concerns, their community is so convinced that San Francisco has gone off the deep end that Avi is requesting a rabbinical opinion as to whether they can come!

There probably won't be any problems - I had a long talk with the guy whose blessing Avi wants for the trip on the phone today. It just is strange to see how oddly the rest of the country views the area where I am studying law.

(many thanks to Yehuda Levine for agreeing to talk to my brothers, and congratulations for his new baby boy as well)