Last week had to be a most astonishing week for people who report the news. The week began with the bombing in Boston, went on to the Elvis impersonator who apparently was trying to kill people by putting poison on letters, and ended with the shoot out and capture of the little brother suspect in the Boston events. From the get go we received more inaccurate information than accurate information because the people reporting the news couldn't stop talking. I would have been happy with a "Wow. We have no i...
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This week’s Torah reading is two short portions read together, Tazria (Lev.12:1 – 13:59) and Metzora (Lev. 14:1 – 15:33). Both portions deal with ritual purity as it pertains to the conditions of childbirth, certain skin ailments, seminal emissions, menstrual blood and death. Although the ...
A story goes like this. A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance. As he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean. As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water. The man asked the ...
As though we needed more proof that life and death are random and chaotic, I stopped on my evening walk to acknowledge an earthworm dead on the concrete sidewalk. On the concrete sidewalk! Doubtless it died yearning for its moist motherland and marveling that death comes unbidden when and where we least expect to find it.
What matters is that we keep moving along. Someone told me today of a dream -- a goal. It was fairly simple in the scheme of things but the teller expressed doubt. "It's too big a dream. I guess it's stupid."Here's what I said. Don't give up. Our dreams keep us alive.And I also say that to you.And I also say that to myself.
At least in my experience it is really hard to start and maintain a routine unless we've been doing it most of our lives. I rarely feel inconvenienced when I'm about to brush my teeth. And yet when I consider my daily walk (or my hoped for daily walk) or quiet moments of meditation it is so easy to find something else to do even if the something else is nothing. I've read that it takes a month to turn a routine into a habit. I'm thinking it takes years. Even if that is the case, though, I'd like to think...
He clearly was among the many homeless wandering the streets of Pomona, California. Instead of the proverbial shopping cart he tried to pull a broken down, dirty, clothes and other possessions bulging through the seams wheeled suitcase. One wheel was missing. When the light changed he tried to hurry but the suitcase wouldn't let him. He pulled and tugged. He looked at me waiting to make my right turn. I saw only fear on his face and wondered what it was that he feared. Could it be that I would become imp...
If I'm going to fall for the same old toothpaste on the toilet seat year after year after year it would be nice to at least know some of the origins of the April Fool's thing. As it works out, the origins seem to be hidden in antiquity. There is some reference to it in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales published around 1392 and others attribute it to the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in the sixteenth century. So we get it that this 'tom foolery' has been going on for some time.Somehow I feel a little bette...
This Shabbat, the last one before the holiday of Passover, is known as Shabbat ha-Gadol, the Great Sabbath. This Shabbat has a special haftarah, the reading from the Prophets which follows the Torah reading. On Shabbat ha-Gadol, we read from Malachi, the last of the prophetic books (in the Hebrew Bible; the Christian Testament orders the books differently). The haftarah portion is Malachi 3:4-24, the last verses of the (rather short) book.. The prophet tells of the end times, of a Judgment Day when God w...
