Visiting friends in Philadelphia last month, I had occasion to drive across the Delaware River and was reminded of a relaxing afternoon I spent in an inner tube in this river nearly two years ago. I wrote about the experience in my 5782 Rosh Hashanah Message in the Atlanta Jewish Times: “Riding the gentle rapids … Read more
Last night, I attended the live broadcast of the 20th annual Poetry & the Creative Mind gala of the Academy of American Poets. This celebration o f National Poetry Month doubles as a fundraiser to help underwrite the Academy’s education programs, which provide 60,000 K-12 classroom teachers each year with free resources—including online lesson plans—to … Read more
The Passover dishes are packed away for next year. Tablecloths and napkins—stains painstakingly removed—wait patiently in their basket until later this afternoon, when they’ll be returned to the table for Shabbat dinner. Sweet memories of our daughter’s whirlwind visit and my school break spent connecting with family and friends coalesce into Our Passover Story 2023, … Read more
“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up in the morning and see the light.” —Miles Davis After walking Henry (in the 12-degrees-with-the-wind-feels-like-2-degrees-weather) today, I curled up next to him on the couch with my coffee and began my morning ritual, which includes reading the Daily Dose of Talmud and opening … Read more
One Hebrew expression for the publication of a book is l’hotzee l’or, literally, “to bring it to light,” although most speakers of modern Hebrew would use the word l’farsem. This Hebrew word also means to publicize, and it may have come into modern Hebrew by way of the Aramaic expression pirsuma neisa, to publicize the … Read more
My spouse and I have a longstanding Shabbat afternoon tradition: a friendly game of Scrabble. Okay, I admit, it’s not entirely friendly, which he claims is because I’m too competitive and not a graceful loser, or winner. I’m sure he’d agree our games used to be more friendly when we first began playing, in the … Read more
Happy National Poetry Month! To celebrate, I’ve decided to participate in the 2022 April Poem A Day (PAD) Challenge. Of course, I’ll miss a few days for Sabbaths and Passover, but I’m not concerned since it’s just for fun. So far, it has been great fun to respond to the prompts, posted daily by Robert … Read more
While we’re celebrating the secular new year this weekend, we welcome the new month of Shevat in the Jewish calendar on Monday, January 3rd. This is the month in which we celebrate the new year of the trees, Tu B’Shevat. Growing up in the northeast, we celebrated this holiday in the middle of winter by … Read more