Because the Jewish High Holidays remind us of mortality, I’ve been thinking about our 14 ½ year old puppy, Leo. Yes, he’s at the end of his life expectancy, but his ever-wagging tail is evidence that … Read More
Inspired by a good joke and a stirring play, I offer these remarks, including a rather unorthodox ending: A young man is hitchhiking and gets picked up by a trucker. After thanking him profusely, the young … Read More
“Everyone has two lives,” Hunter Thompson famously said. “The second one begins when you realize you only have one.” That’s the moral of Alfred Nobel, whose obituary was mistakenly published, memorializing him as the inventor … Read More
As the world reels from the spread of a COVID-19, are we fixated on a false choice — either pandemic or another Great Depression? Can we avert BOTH human and economic disaster? After all, we … Read More
Jews have an interesting leitmotif running through the Passover Seder, conveying its meaning while telling a story that explains the longevity of the Jewish People, and a lesson for all humanity – particularly as the … Read More
Thank God for dirty jokes, especially the two my mom insisted I tell anyone willing to listen as I motored her through a storm of diagnosis and decision-making last month. Distracting us from the stress … Read More
God knows Joan Rivers had much to atone for every Yom Kippur, considering her trenchant wit, off-color jokes, and celebrity takedowns—though sidesplitting. Never deferential to fame and status, Rivers claimed, “I succeeded by saying what … Read More
As I write my column for publication on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, I’m reminded of this joke: Upon hearing his rabbi memorialize soldiers who had died in service, a little boy asked soberly, … Read More