Charles Bronson starred in the 1974 classic film, Death Wish. Playing Paul Kersey, a New York architect whose family was brutalized by murderous thugs, Bronson goes on a vigilante rampage. I saw this movie in a Manhattan theater in 1975 and as a newly arrived tourist, I was astonished to see that every time Bronson...
For children, time seems to move slowly and ponderously. Most of us can remember a school year that seemed to last for 20 months, or a birthday that surely took more than 12 months to return. Adults often have the opposite experience. “What! It’s time to pay taxes again!” Or perhaps, “Didn’t we just put...
I had a great time the other evening! My wife and I spent five hours in deep conversation with a friend and rabbinic colleague whom I hadn’t seen since speaking in his synagogue a few years back. One time his family was away visiting relatives for a week. It also happened that he had no...
“I had to let three of my people go last week,” she told me, “and you have no idea how miserable I have been. I wish I could get toughened up so I could do whatever is necessary without feeling such pain!” “No, you don’t,” I replied. “In these frightening financial conditions, you may have...
Have you ever wondered why the plays of William Shakespeare are still being read and remain popular after four hundred years while most books written fifty years ago are already out of print? The answer is that they reveal reality. They teach how the world really works. Another way of describing it is to say...
Question: I have a friend in his mid 50’s who has come to Christianity in the last 12 years, He has a hard time resolving how God treated certain people groups in the Five Books of Moses and the Prophets Bible that were destroyed or killed by God’s command. I have tried talking to him...
While serving the synagogue it was my privilege to establish in Southern California, my wife and I frequently sailed our forty-four foot cutter to Catalina Island. On that 26 mile jaunt, we often saw dolphins, whales, and other beguiling sea life. When fog set in, I’d think of Florence Chadwick, who in 1952 set out...
Each one of us is unique, of course. It’s just that some are, well, a little more unique than others. Our president is certainly unique. Over the past few years, President Trump has worked at a pace that younger presidents did not attempt or manage. Whether you agree or disagree with his policies, he takes...
A friend once invited me to join him and several other guests on a day sail off the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. After his rhapsodic description of the classic sailboat and his praise of the captain whom I was going to be fortunate enough to meet, I could hardly accept quickly enough. ...
A business professional in Michigan named Ken Lingenfelter owns about 230 cars. Entertainer Jay Leno has about 170 and Jerry Seinfeld owns about 150. Each of those avid car collectors has a list of a few more cars that he’d really love to acquire but knows he probably won’t. Healthy people eventually recognize that nobody...
