Thoughts on being Jewish

Roughly 35 years ago, I had an eye-opening conversation with a Greenwich High School classmate. This was the first school year I'd ever gone to a public school - prior to that I attended a Jewish Day School. I had plenty of non-Jewish friends on my block, so I thought we lived in harmony, knowing about each other's holidays; until I had this conversation; Me; Have a Merry Christmas, Buffy. Buffy; You, too. Me: Thanks, but I don't celebrate Christmas, I'm Jewish. Buffy: You don't celebrate... Sign in to see full entry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsBbTyak59I&eurl=http://www.passthecandle.com/ Sign in to see full entry.

Let’s talk about darkness. This month, the hours of darkness surpass those of light each day. By 4:00pm, as the sun sets, the world seems more terrifying, less hopeful. We’ve been hearing a lot about darkness these days. The collapsing economy foretells dark months ahead; many have lost or will loose jobs and homes, our own Jewish Family Services reports a significant increase in cases, and the number of people utilizing food banks has gone up exponentially. The siege of Mumbai illustrated the... Sign in to see full entry.

I wrote this in 2002, and it appears in the archives of Ducts.org. T he last roll of film I ever developed was from a dead man. Before digital cameras reduced photographs to pixels - images that fly through cyberspace like Captain Kirk beaming back to the Enterprise - a young man lived in our house. This nineteen year old, a boy really, moved in with us so he could teach grade school kids about his country, Israel. Ilan came for a year, leaving three younger brothers and Russian parents behind,... Sign in to see full entry.

As many of you know by now, counted among the 150 plus dead in India were two kind, beautiful, young and generous people - a Rabbi and his wife who ran the Jewish Center in Mumbai. Here is an email I received from a Chabad Rabbi in Vail, CO; Dear Friends, We are all greatly saddened by the grave news that has emerged from Mumbai: My colleagues, Rabbi Gavriel and Mrs. Rivkah Holtzberg, the Rebbe's emissaries to India, and at least three of their guests, who are still unnamed, have been brutally... Sign in to see full entry.