3: 49 PM – I am thankful that often I read and write and teach and relate and listen and can say what I did in a day. But so far today I listened to a speaker and sat through an award ceremony and ate lunch and packed and waited to go and then went and then stopped and then went again and now me and my luggage and my yearning spirit are home. Read More »

6: 01 PM – I need to be back down in the YUNMUN lobby for our group picture in a few minutes. I need a little Torah and I wish to write here… On Shabbos Dr. Scott Goldberg quoted the Chozeh of Lublin as saying that , “It is impossible to tell people which way to take. Read More »

10: 21 AM – Why do I write here, I kinda-sorta know. Perhaps I want to be folk-famous like Henry David Thoreau. I just like to vent and it’s hard to vent alone, so I plug into this outlet to get into my zone… Read More »

6: 51 PM – Not home from Shul long. Shabbos is still ebbing away. Have to leave in an hour-ish to my school’s dinner. Tomorrow, off to YU Model UN. At some point want to write up some Torah from Shabbos. Maybe I’ll dip my toe in the water now.Last night, at the YU-Carlebach minyan , Rav Dovid Miller spoke briefly. Read More »

1: 01 PM – 3 classes, one guidance/mentoring meeting, paperwork, and, and and… Now, I sit in my office.1: 06 PM – Just returned a call to someone. This someone wants something and feels like they’re not so straight up and straight forward.Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking briefly with Rabbi David Ebner when he visited my school. Read More »

Rabbi Boaz Mori just shared this thought with me, from the Moaznayim LeTorah . Why did the Kohein Gadol wear two pieces that seemed to have the same point? Both the Tzitz , worn on his forehead, and the Urim VeTumim , worn on his chest? He says that the kohein needed to internalize his connection to G-d. Read More »

I bought a sefer called Darchei No’am, in Israel a bunch of years ago, it’s by the present Yerushalayim Slonimer Rebbe, successor of the Nesivos Shalom. Here are some of what I got out of his essay on Parshat Bo. He cites the known approach that we were were zocheh to be redeemed because of specific good things that we held onto. Read More »

6: 31 PM – Six classes taught, plus some meetings and talks.  Still at work, working…Discussed Rosh Chodesh today – how the months are counted from Yetziat Mitzrayim, just like the days are counted from Shabbos, to give honor to G-d. Also we did thew Seforno who focuses on the word lachem, in the command, “HaChodesh hazeh lachem. Read More »

This is one of those experiences that I have to write about.  And the realness of what I wish to write will – I think – come across the most strongly, in direct proportion to how soon I share this. One never knows what will happen, so you need to say and do what matters to you now, that’s one of the lessons I’ve been absorbing since this morning. Read More »

M”ShK  6: 29 PM – Shabbos was nice.  I’m not feeling as well rested as I’d like.  Still. thank G-d for all the good in my life. Finishing Holy Beggars , savoring it.  Amazing book. Read More »

4: 01 PM – This is when I’m starting this post.  Cooking is kinda-sorta done.  Trying to clean and prep lekavod Shabbos and the world.I feel like I haven’t shared here in a while – some random shares: Apple does bad stuff in China.   There’s a well reviewed  play that focuses on this. The writer and star feels that the show must go on . Read More »

2: 11 PM – Friday is my favorite time to post.  Though I’m not sure why I ever write right here.Just came back from doctor and shopping.  Having at least two guests for Shabbos meals.Doctor says boiling water burn on my hand is nothing to worry about.  Likewise regarding The Cold That Wouldn’t Leave. Thank G-d. Read More »

By Strickland Gillian I had a mother who read to me Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea. Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth; “Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath. I had a Mother who read me lays Of ancient and gallant and golden days; Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe, Which every boy has a right to know. Read More »

I just recently discovered this poet.  I was waiting to transcribe all 13 of his haiku about the children of Ya’akov Avinu, but it’s slow going.  So here’s part. I like the work I’ve seen of his.  These are from the start of his poetry book on Shmot. Read More »

Shabbat left, as always – more or less. Like and unlike everyone she leaves and stays at once.And the week with the aura of Parshat Va’Eira lingers, but is mostly gone for a year.I read the full essay of the Slonimer Rebbe in his Darchei Noam .  Without peeking. Lets see what stayed with me. Read More »

Last night I shared my ladder story.  I had not recalled this till I started blogging and since it came back into my consciousness I’ve often thought of it as an apt example of my essence. (A search of slide ladder brings up these posts .) As I last told the tale it dawned on me that it was more revealing than I’d previously realized. Read More »

You can “friend” FacebookMakes you wonder about thingsFacebook: friend or fiend? Read More »

There’s no left or rightthere is only where we standand how we view things Read More »

By Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohein Kook There is a person who sings the song of his soul. He finds everything, his complete spiritual satisfaction, within his soul. There is a person who sings the song of the nation. He steps forward from his private soul, which he finds narrow and uncivilized. He yearns for the heights. Read More »

G-d bless the singlepeople alone and lonelymarried ones also Read More »