Torah Study Saturday, July 110:00 a.m. – noonNeal’s and Ann’s housePortion: Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) “To a man with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” – Anon of Ibid. This week’s portion, Korach, seems fitting for the Shabbat…
Tag: people
Ones I have known, if even tangentially.
Na(t)ive Torah
Considering that this is how many of us returnees (including myself) came to study Torah in this unannounced-but-nonetheless Golden Age of Judaism, Plotz’ wide-eyed innocence struck a deep chord with me. Perhaps this is one reason why the Torah remains…
… re-echo …
here’s what I wrote in a recent column… Screaming in the dark 2/14/03 By Neal Ross If you live among human beings, you must never mention how terribly, nakedly vulnerable we all are ? because we all spend a good…
eulogy
This is what I said about Jim at his funeral: When studying to be a rabbi, I learned a tradition that says one should begin every public discourse with a jest. So here?s Jim?s and my very favorite shared joke…
What do you mean … “mortal?”
The weird thing about my best friend dying is that he’s the only one with whom I want to discuss the grieving process. Maybe everyone feels that way when they go through this; I don’t know. But as my psychic…
Two Towers, Two Tasks
FOR SOME REASON, THREE SIGNIFICANT dates fell out fairly close together recently: Sonoma’s first (?) 9/11 commemoration, Simchat Torah and the autumnal equinox. The first marks the end of American innocence; the second, the annual restarting of the synagogic Torah…
Trial By Fire Trainer
The first thing I noticed was that I couldn’t see or hear anything. And on top of that, I could barely breathe. My knees and hands already hurt from the rough steel floor. The hose I was helping to drag…
Yids With Lids
A recent poster to soc.culture.jewish.moderated was soliciting opinions from full-time kippa wearers for a paper she’s writing. I contacted her, and submitted the following responses to her questions: : Why do you wear a kippa? I began wearing a kippa…
Meeting Himself Coming the Other Way
Sometimes, to take a step forward, it’s necessary to take a step back. I’m sitting here having lunch at the desk I occupied for three years as a city, fire, religion and state developmental center reporter. The Sonoma Index-Tribune rehired…
Why We Teach
from a pre-Blogger blog Conversation with a 12-year-old bat mitzva candidate, who I’m tutoring by probing the meaning of the prayers: Okay, read me the first part of the Sh’ma in English. “Hear O Israel, the Eternal is G-d, the…
The Name’s Panim … P.A. Panim.
from a pre-Blogger blog One of the cool things about being a teacher is watching the students connect the dots I sprinkle, as happened Tuesday. Our previous class touched on Shabbat observance, and my kids expressed disdain at the possibility…