“Have a joyous Christmas.” “Thank you and Happy Chanuka. Well, I guess that’s over now but I hope it was happy, I mean…” I’ve had a few awkward conversations such as this one over the past few days. In my daily life I regularly interact with Christians. From the woman who leads the exercise class...
“Leave the light on please,” says the child, “I’m scared of the dark.” Perhaps the most common emotion expressed by little children is fear. Long before they become comfortable articulating emotions like happiness, excitement, and sadness, small children speak of fear. Though we speak of it less as we grow up, we feel it just...
I can truly understand the cries of those calling for greater gun control after the horrific elementary school shooting last week. Faced with so much pain, there is a natural desire to do something to ensure that such an incident can never happen again. The impulse is a good one; unfortunately, on a large scale,...
What do high tax rates, entitlement programs and a dinner in honor of my nine-year-old grandson have to do with each other? It turns out, quite a lot. My husband and I were privileged to attend a siyum at our daughter and son-in-law’s house. A siyum marks the conclusion of learning a specific portion of...
I found two text messages on my phone after my exercise class last Wednesday. The first, from my daughter in nursing school, told me that she had assisted in a birth for the very first time. Even the sterile method of communication couldn’t conceal her excitement. The second was from my husband, telling me that...
Five years ago, in a dazzling speech at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, Steve Jobs introduced his iPhone with these words, “Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything…” On June 4th, 1940, Winston Churchill gave a speech warning of a possible Nazi invasion. This was its climax: “We shall defend...
