Half-a-million gone…..
Half-a-million gone... For over a month now, the lyrics of a Joni Mitchell song—“Woodstock”—have been running through my head: By the time we got to Woodstock We were half [...]
Narrow Bridge
Narrow Bridge November, 2020 I began writing this column on Election Day and it is quite possible that this issue will go to press before the results of the [...]
My Father & the Coronavirus
I’ve been thinking of my father, of blessed memory, lately. He was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1911 and died in 1988. Two particular aspects of his childhood captivated [...]
God in hiding
Purim, that spring revel-of-a-holiday that is always touched with a suggestion of anarchy, falls on March 9/10 this year. If your memory needs refreshing, Purim brings us the story [...]
Chavurah @ FJC
Chavurah @ FJC Whenever I have the opportunity to engage new members of our congregation in conversation and I ask them what led them to join us, I am [...]
“Beautiful Fool”
As January approaches each year, a song percolates up through my consciousness and I pull up on my computer, and listen to, several recorded versions of it . It [...]
Nechemta (consolation)
The Shabbat following Tisha B’Av, that summer date commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, is known as “Shabbat Nachamu.” The name is taken from the opening word [...]
Narrow Bridge
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772 - 1810) was the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. In his short life he became one of the most creative, influential and profound [...]
We can all use some “hygge”!
OCTOBER Robert Frost O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the [...]
The 11th Commandment
Describing Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (z”l), Krista Tippet, host of On Being, writes: “A mystic, a 20th-century religious intellectual, a social change agent, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched alongside [...]