The Old City of Jerusalem is a taut knot at the center of multiple strands of spiritual longing. It is divided into Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian “quarters” — but when you walk through the narrow old winding streets, you quickly see that the separations aren’t so neat in a place where menorahs can easily … Read more
A few days ago I had my bar mitzvah ceremony on a kibbutz in the Negev Desert. My wife and son and I gathered with Rabbi Menachem Creditor, his daughter Ariel, our guide Jared, and other members of our group at the top of a colorfully painted water tower. As the sun set and a … Read more
A dog doesn’t want me to be typing right now. We’re at the Vermont home of my wife’s oldest brother, Denry, and his wife, Chris, and their daughter, Nadya. They have two goats, one of whom has miraculously recovered from a complete de-horning, and two very friendly dogs (and, I think, two cats — they’re … Read more
In Modern Hebrew for Beginners, a book I just bought at Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley, a footnote says: aleph and ayin are pronounced with a stoppage of the air flow, much like the initial sound in “oh oh.” I once interviewed Michael Tilson Thomas, and asked him what he does in the moments before he … Read more