I am often asked by friends, colleagues or others who detect my American accent (one doesn’t have to be too discerning to do so) why I chose to leave the U.S. and make aliyah. The question is generally a bit on the cynical side and goes something like, “What was so bad in America that…
Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel, on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Apart from the archaeology, the site’s iconic setting has made it a popular place for concerts and events throughout the year. In the past few…
I committed a sin recently. I admitted that I wasn’t familiar with a particular French chef. If looks could kill … you should have seen the face of my executioner. It was as if I had admitted not knowing the words to “Hatikvah” or the Pledge of Allegiance. I was dead meat. In the professional…
A glint from the small Jewish star on her neck sparkled in the candlelight and caught my eye as we sat savoring Clos Apalta, Chilean winner of best wine of the year, from her cellar. A fire crackled in the immense hearth, giving a warm glow to the handcrafted, paneled walls. Floor-to-ceiling windows provided panoramic…
I sat beside her bed, watching her breathe. She looked so tiny, wrapped in mounds of bedcovers, her head softly resting on an oversized pillow. She no longer recognized me, or so I was told by her caregivers, but that didn’t stop me from speaking continu- ously to her as I stroked her hairless head….
Rabbi David Davis likes to say he walked the line and had to make a choice. Today a professor emeritus and chairman of the board of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Arizona State University, he said the desire for his own congregation eventually evolved into a commitment to full-time academia. Much happened along the…
Most of us remember Valentine’s Days in elementary school when we decorated our personal delivery boxes and waited for them to be filled with flimsy paper “Be My Valentine” cards from all our schoolmates. As we grew older, valentines hopes turned to a more specific choice, like a steady boyfriend or another hopeful suitor delivering…
The topic of gardening is a different subject now than it was some 40 years ago when my family and I tilled and maintained an acre of land for fruit and vegetable gardening (with a few chickens thrown in). Time seemed so simple then: no personal electronics, no microwave oven, no rush – or so…
My mother called tonight while I was cooking dinner. Again, for the third time today. I knew who it was because the words “Mom’s Cell” lit up on my own cell phone like a marquee on Times Square. I had laid down my cuting knife and shook the pieces of onion and red pepper from…
Besides the obvious fact that we, as a family, and more generally as a tribe, do not celebrate the Sainted Señor Valentine, there is an even more compelling reason why we will not commemorate Cupid with the purchase of any- thing electronic. After all, I made it through the holiday season without caving and I…
