Last week’s Musing revolved around friendship and the precious relationships we enjoy with other people. This week, my husband and I heard of the death of someone who was more than a friend to us; he was also a mentor. Dr. Garth Coonce, along with his wife Tina, may she live and be well, opened...
My wife is taking inordinate pleasure upon reading that after having three children, the famous home tidy-up-er, Marie Kondo is acknowledging that tidying up is not the most important thing in life. Nonetheless, no matter what the living room or children’s bedrooms look like, unless you have been a Kondo acolyte, I know a truth...
Should we pray for things that are within our control or that we can accomplish ourselves (e.g. working harder, being more patient, or being more disciplined)? Thank you. Justin A. Dear Justin, Many years ago, a South African immigrant to America (Rabbi Daniel Lapin’s mother, to be specific) asked a friend to pick up some...
How many friends do you have? In her book, Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, National Public Radio’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Nina Totenberg, writes movingly and eloquently about her friendship with a number of people, most particularly, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. This specific relationship spanned the years both before and after Justice...
Can you tell me more about how during the 400 year captivity the Hebrew wives didn’t let their husbands give up on God’s promises? (I’ve heard) something about the husbands wanted to stop producing children and refused to lay with their wives but the women found a way. Thanks, ∼ Marjorie C. Dear Marjorie, We...
There are many ways to quash discussion. One of them, in vogue today, is to refuse to separate ideas from individuals. Do you think illegal immigration is a problem? You obviously hate migrants and what is more, you are xenophobic. Are you concerned about men adopting babies? This means that you surely hate men or...
A Purim Lesson The past few decades have seen a huge push to promote the presence of women in the workplace. California even mandated that all companies in the state must have women sitting on their boards of directors. It is a fact of modern life that men and women interact all the time in...
Dear Rabbi and Susan, Like so many others these days, I have a job that I can do mostly from home – I’m a software engineer. It’s great for my family. I can take the kids to school in the morning and on many days my wife and I even get to have breakfast or...
Around three weeks from now, I will observe my mother’s 23rd yahrzeit, the annual acknowledgment of the (Hebrew) date of her death. It is, of course, impossible to know for sure how my mother would relate to today’s events, but I think that I have a pretty good idea. My mother had a sunny disposition....
