If you planned to spend the holidays with family, I hope that you traveled comfortably and safely despite bad weather disrupting thousands of flights in the United States last week. Yet even when the weather cooperates, flight turmoil abounds. When my husband was invited to speak at a Shabbat program for politically conservative Jewish students...
Can you spot a connection between all these English words? A—AN—ANT—ANTI—ANTIC—ANTICIPATE No, of course not. Other than each being formed by adding letters to the previous word, there is no conceptual connection. Yet in the Lord’s language, the meanings of the four following words are strongly linked: חשׁמנה שׁמנה שׁמנ שׁמ Reading from right to...
More words and more actions We recently observed the 30th anniversary of my father’s death. His influence on my life has not waned. One of his oft-repeated teachings still resonates with me. Saying, ‘thank-you for everything,’ really means thank-you for nothing. Merely mouthing the words ‘thank-you’ is an inadequate response to the good we have...
This is going to be a “different” Thanksgiving where our immediate family replaces our usual extended family group. I know we can still focus on the things for which we must be grateful, but it seems to me that we are in a period of less rather than abundance. There are fewer opportunities to work...
Let’s use our imaginations for a thought experiment. In 1946, a crew is airlifting the latest model Dodge from Detroit to a car dealership in Brisbane, Australia. On the final leg of its flight the airplane develops engine problems over Papua, New Guinea. The crew’s only hope is to shove the shiny new sedan out...
What three changes could you institute that would improve your life? Most people know exactly what they ought to do and what they ought to stop doing that would make their lives better. Which begs the question—why don’t we just go ahead and do these things? The answer is what I call “The Force of...
In which countries is it easiest to form a new business? You’d think that with more than two-hundred years of entrepreneurial culture, the United States would rank fairly high. And we did. Until about 1962, starting a new business in the United States was quicker, cheaper, and easier than anywhere else. Not surprisingly, the country...
Chanukah begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev and continues for eight days. Because its date depends on the lunar rather than the solar calendar, in some years, Chanukah overlaps with Thanksgiving while on others it coincides with Christmas. This year, the fifth day of Chanukah lines up with the anniversary...
John Steinbeck’s 1937 short novel, Of Mice and Men, always brings a lump to my throat. It tells the story of two migrant farm workers, George and Lennie, during the Depression. Attempting to summarize it here would be futile. It would also be a crime against great writing. If you’ve never read it, I recommend...
As a Bible believer, is it best for us to follow only Biblical guidelines rather than learning the positive values from other cultures, such as Japanese or Chinese cultural values? I thought this would enrich our lives as well as our Biblical learning, but may not be what the Bible guidelines suggest us to do....
