An Instant In An Eternity

Tonight we took the kids to a program put on by the city to celebrate Immigrant Day, or Immigration Day, depending on how you want to translate it. The posters around town were very basic, not much detail. After inquiring with some friends there was recollection of a similar event in the past focused on the Ethiopian aliyah story and history. So I had high hopes for this evening, even as there was a little voice of skepticism on my shoulder. We arrived and there were people milling around outside the theater enjoying various ethnic cuisine - injira bread with vegetables and lentils, kube, blintzes, and something that I think was Moroccan couscous and veggies. It was meant to be a selection of foods connection to various groups who had immigrated to Israel. It was a nice multi-cultural smorgasbord courtesy of the city council and my tax dollars. As I looked around I saw a lot of Russian/Ukrainian/Former Soviet Union immigrants. I heard a lot of Russian or Ukrainian. I didn't see a...

This time of year tends to get almost out of control busy. As soon as we pack up our Passover supplies we run right into the time of year known as YomHaShoah-YomHaZicharon-YomHaAtzmaut-LagB'Omer-Shavuot. It's all one HUGE breath that flies by faster than you can imagine. Then add into that things like school and birthdays and this year, a Bar Mitzvah, and it becomes a blur of color and sound. I meant to sit down and write parts of this weeks ago. I'm finally taking a moment or two as the wind howls outside and the rain batters the house. It feels like we are approaching Halloween or Thanksgiving, except those aren't celebrated here and it's almost May. A while back I watched a short video about an amazing community oriented singing experience called Koolulam . It's a one year old initiative that has taken on a life of its own. The name comes from a blend of "cool", "kol" the Hebrew word for voice, "kulum" which means everyone i...

Last week Alan Alda was in town and gave a talk at The Technion. Thanks to a Wellesley friend we heard it was happening and grabbed seats to listen. Having a chance to hear from Hawkeye Pierce in person was pretty amazing. What he had to say as Alan Alda was thought-provoking. He was in town as part of his Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science . He and his team were working with a group of young scientists on how to communicate complicated science to the general public. His talk that evening was more general about communication. He said a few things that I think are well worth considering and internalizing. 1. If you are really listening you'll be open to being changed by the speaker. His point is that if we are really open minded and really listening then we aren't crafting our response or counter argument while the speaker is talking. Therefore we've totally opened and cleared our minds and that allows for us to have our opinion changed as a result of the speake...

As we finished out 2017 an article in The New York Times caught my eye and secured part of my 10 free articles for the month. Anne Patchett wrote about her year of no shopping . This wasn't anything new to me - I've heard about no shopping or reduced shopping efforts before. For some reason, though, this article resonated with me - maybe because we had read one of her works for my book club this past year. Maybe because she is a book store owner, and therefore earns a special place in my heart. I read the piece and then saved it as a PDF to my desktop. The point of the piece is simple. The writing is well done and conveys her experience. What would a year without shopping look like? Even more, what does that even mean? What can I buy? What can't I buy? Why? She writes a compelling piece - no wonder, she's a compelling author. Part of what attracted me was that she first encountered the idea in 2009 and it took her 7 years later in 2016 to engage fully with the li...

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how it used to be...and if you know the start of that song, you're of a certain age either when that song was popular and on the radio, or it was a hit of the oldies in your childhood! Which means you also likely recall life before the internet and websites and blogs (irony not lost here!) and Facebook. I remember getting our first computer, the Apple IIC . I remember the computer lab at school with a limited number of games to introduce us to this newfangled thing a computer. I remember having a computer of my own in high school - that tiny six inch monitor as part of the all in one computer platform - such an advancement! No internet yet, but not far off - just as I went off to college. I remember learning how to use email and connect virtually and remotely with my friends who were spread across the country. I remember my first generation Mac laptop in college. And now, I have one, if not two handheld computers in my purse or near me...

Eight years ago we decided to take the job offer from Intel and make aliyah. It was a one-way move. It took us another half year to get it all organized. We packed up and moved. Then we arrive. Las year was our sabbatical (שבתון in Hebrew) year, our Shmita year. It was a time for us, whether we knew it or not, to take a bit of a rest, a rest from this exhausting and exhilarating process of absorption into Israeli society. I did a bit of a mental relax, not really a check out, more of a check in - an adjustment of expectations. The history of the State of Israel and the stories surrounding her founding are told in epic, mythical proportions in the diaspora. It's hard as a Jewish child not to be engaged by these stories, won over, even. The challenges were massive and daunting. The confidence and enthusiasm were boundless. The pioneers who founded the State of Israel would be successful. We talk about the heroic establishment of Israel, the heroic history of the country, and t...

The subject of women in Judaism, women's place in the synagogue, women's prayer, women's anything frankly in religion is a hot topic - and it's not cooling off. We're certainly making progress, but sometimes that progress is painfully slow. I recently wrote about my thoughts that arose after my son's school performance, making me miss the experience of truly engaging with prayer in a community setting. This past weekend our neighbors celebrated their son turning 13 and his Bar Mitzvah . They had the Shabbat morning service at the Orthodox synagogue down the street from our house. That's the synagogue where we don't go - that's a story for another time. They are our friends, the mom does not come from a religious background, so we made sure to get up and get there on time to celebrate with them. I sat in the women's section - which also happens to be the back - of the synagogue. There is a mechitza , a separation between the men and women wh...