Month: August 2013

The Jewish New Year, called Rosh Hashanna, is fast approaching. At this time of year, many Jews write New Year’s greetings to one another – analogous to the cards non-Jews send out around December 25th. Rebecca and I don’t follow the usual custom. Instead, we send out an annual Yom Kippur greeting. Yom Kippur is… Continue reading Tenth Annual Yom Kippur Greeting

There is a very famous story in the Talmud. In it, an accidently invited guest shows up a party. The host hates the guest – and embarrasses him and forces him to leave. The assembled people, including the great rabbis of the city, fail to lift a finger to help the embarrased visitor. The guest… Continue reading Ninth Annual Yom Kippur Greeting

There is a recurring theme in Chassidic stories. There are many many variations on the tale, but one of my favorites involves a famous Rabbi and his disciple visiting a desperately poor man and his family. The man was very kind. Despite barely having enough food to put on the table, he fed the Rabbi… Continue reading Seventh Annual Yom Kippur Greeting

Absolute silence. Absolute darkness. In this room, the senses search for information, but find almost none. They are satisfied solely by a lonely smell of old wood which wafts through the air. In the distance, quietly at first, the smell of wood gains a companion. Footsteps can be heard, growing louder as they draw nearer.… Continue reading Sixth Yom Kippur Greeting

It’s raining. And the artist is outside. Working with clay. It’s maddening. He’s trying to shape it. He’s trying to make it into something beautiful. But he can’t. For some reason, the rain isn’t affecting the clay at all. It feels perfectly smooth in his hands. And, as he runs his fingers over it, it… Continue reading Fifth Yom Kippur Greeting

The nights have grown cool. Outside, the wind is hinting at its ability to howl. Cold rain is splashing down, its water soaking the sidewalk and creating mud where none was before. It’s warm and bright inside. A man opens the door, a blast of cool air heralding his entrance. Heads turn, looking to see… Continue reading Fourth Annual Yom Kippur Greeting

Your mind sits, alone, in an empty room. Hovering before you is your life’s work. It is a sculpture you have been creating and molding since you were born. You, for the first time, see the sculpture. You, for the first time, behold its true beauty, or naked hideousness, in its entirety. You built the… Continue reading First Annual Yom Kippur Greeting

Three months, no flowers. I’ve been going out with Her for three months. Living life, away from my fears and my responsibilities, She is someone to share my life with, someone to alleviate the stress. It’s about time I got Her some flowers. The Dune-Buggy, its frame encased in reenforced plexi-glass, hurls the suited shape… Continue reading Three Months no Flowers (from high school)

It floats in the air, a strange luminance radiating from its uncertain shape. Like a cloud, it floats, shapeless, bodiless, shifting with the slightest movement of the world around it. Its borders are unclear. Its mist stretches out in every direction, never seeming to finally dissipate. At its center one can detect nothing. It is… Continue reading The Artist

(not a precise rendering of the speech I gave :)) Sorry in advance for the long speech, but there are two of these little critters and this is a speech I only get to give once J Before I talk about names, I just want to thank everybody who has helped us so much over… Continue reading Itai and Yitzchak