The Next Generation Last week my son participated in Safety Town. This amazing and crucial Rec and Ed program introduces incoming kindergarteners to a range of important safety procedures. The children interact regularly with police officers, firefighters and other emergency…
Drisophila Melanogaster This week marks the 20th anniversary of my graduation from high school. This milestone in the passage of times brings with it the mixed blessing of nostalgia. Wistfully I recall walking the open fields of the campus and…
Stop This is not a sermon about Bill Cosby. I have to start with that caveat because Cosby’s alleged crimes against women are reprehensible and inexcusable. But as a child of the 80’s, I took many life lessons from his…
Five Wishes “Someday I will be a little old Jewish lady.” While this is, of course, true for me, the statement was shared by anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff in a documentary film. Myerhoff was part of a collaborative project on aging…
My grandmother, of blessed memory, used to sing to me the well-known poem: Make new friends, but keep the old, those are silver and these are gold. As a child I misinterpreted this passage. Not knowing the value of…
What are the Chances? A coincidence is a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time, apparently by mere chance. For example, on July 4th, 1826, the last remaining founding fathers’ Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within…
How Good? Congregation sings mah tovu How goodly are your tents Jacob, your dwelling places people of Israel. With these words the Moabite prophet, Bilaam, sent to curse the Israelite community, blesses them instead. These are the words we often…
Big Bird and Bamidbar Big Bird is a friend to us all—one of the most universally recognized characters in the world. Through the wonder of television, he and his pals have found their place in the hearts of children for…
What We (Don’t) See This week’s double portion, Tazria-Metzora, is nobody’s favorite part of the Torah. It deals with skin afflictions and the priestly rituals that must be performed to purify those infected with them. Tzaraat is commonly translated as…
Biblical Snake Spray I spent much of this week studying a biblical text that I didn’t understand. You see, last week, I had someone ask me about the tradition of the “red heifer.” I found this rather strange, it’s not…