Department stores continue to disappear and the crowds in the remaining ones are increasingly poorly behaved. Just about anything you want is available online. I find myself rarely stepping foot in a mall. Yet, there is one category of store that I still enjoy visiting in person. Second-hand book stores get my heart racing. I...
What are your thoughts on the word ‘mishphat’ (social justice)? My church is currently undergoing a ‘replant’ with a new emphasis on community growth and ‘social justice’. However, Glenn Beck said to be wary when you hear ‘social justice’ in the church. I know that ‘social justice’ is a term created by the far left...
When the English novelist, Charles Dickens, visited a prison outside of Philadelphia in 1842, he witnessed prisoners being held in solitary confinement. He wrote that most people are incapable of recognizing the full extent of the torture and agony of being incarcerated alone. He insisted that the mental torture of solitary confinement was far worse...
I am delighted to share this platform today with my good friend, Judy Gruen. I think it’s a great reminder that each of us can choose to add kindness to the world with a simple act. Recently, I attended a memorial tribute for an elderly friend named Maurice. I had met Maurice and his wife,...
Last weekend I went for my company’s trip. As part of the agenda, there were dinner, dance and drinks. So a colleague of mine (we are not close, just working level) who is of an opposite sex started dancing with me on the dance floor and then pulled me aside and danced solo with me....
My children constantly fascinate me when we hike in breathtakingly beautiful British Columbia during the summer. Some of them visibly thrill to the vast vistas and magnificent landscapes revealed as we crest a hill. Others seem oblivious to the large scale spectacles but will stoop to pick up a pebble which can absorb their attention...
At the time a new movie about Marie Antoinette was released, our high-school age daughter made a comment to a friend about the Queen’s youth at the time of her dramatic encounter with the guillotine. Her friend was quite peeved at how our daughter had ruined the movie by giving away the ending. Ignorance of...
Herman Wouk spent time with Susan and me in our home in Los Angeles while his classic books, Winds of War and War and Remembrance were in television production. His book that I tend to recommend more than any other is his depiction of Judaism entitled This Is My God. It is named for the …
The great author and playwright, Herman Wouk, today returned to the Lord, aged 104 Read More »
I appreciate warnings. When I’m a guest at a meal and my hostess tells us that one of the dips is super spicy, I appreciate knowing that before setting my mouth on fire. When a friend suggests that I skip reading a popular book because it is filled with profanity, I appreciate taking it off...
With apologies to all senior citizens, (a civilized sobriquet if there ever was one) I am going to ask you a question: What is the one word in English literature that occurs more frequently than any other directly after the words “crotchety,” “curmudgeonly,” or “cranky”? If you answered “old” you are quite correct. You’ll nearly...
