My daughter calls me, no Talmudic issue, a simple statement: I don’t know if I’m feeling services this year. I can relate. I myself feel a little like a wandering Jew, not sure where my spiritual affiliation belongs. Call me a seeker. Call me a ‘Jubu’ (i.e., that charming acronym denoting those … [Read more...] about Spin-A-Gogue, Anyone?
Happenstance
Early morning, barely awake and jet-lagged, a word pops into my head: Happenstance, a poetic mingling of chance and circumstance. I do think there’s an order to the universe. I don’t think everything happens for a reason, but any unwelcome circumstance foisted on us, once we get past the anger … [Read more...] about Happenstance
Those Moments We Miss
In the grand scheme of memorable moments, riding a two-wheeler for the first time is the gold standard, the one that puts me in a place and time against which so much else is measured. I can see the bike (blue and white), myself in the seat. The focus, the balance, the breeze. The closest thing to … [Read more...] about Those Moments We Miss
Here and now
In the best of all possible worlds I’d be in a state of presence 24/7, that in-the-moment place where time really has no measure, here and now one and the same. Not that those six turtles sunning themselves on a log don’t stop me dead in my tracks when I’m walking around the lake, (almost) a slave … [Read more...] about Here and now
And the seasons they go ’round and ’round . . .
The month of April is playing tricks on me. No sooner do I shed the fleece jacket for a morning walk one day, a sweatshirt all I need, than I find myself putting it on again the next day. Expectation really resists being defied. Okay, so the groundhog screwed up, promising an early spring; … [Read more...] about And the seasons they go ’round and ’round . . .
From Karaoke to Chabad: By any name a simcha
A recent night smack in the middle of the week finds me sitting at a table in a party/reception room at a yeshiva in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY. A cousin’s daughter, brought to new levels of devoutness during her college years and immersion in the Chabad way of life, has become engaged to a young … [Read more...] about From Karaoke to Chabad: By any name a simcha
