Sealed with a Kiss: Eulogy for Bob Loup
Based on the Song of Songs (Chapter 8: 6-7) We place you Bob as a seal upon our hearts We place you Bob as a seal upon our arms For love is truly stronger than death A fire whose flame burns eternally For all the waters of the world Cannot extinguish our love for you Rita […]
Beacons of Light
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give […]
Sacred Luminosity
On December 21, 1978 an editorial in the New York Times by Anne Roiphe caused a stir in me and many others. Her topic was the celebration of Christmas in her Jewish home, choosing to celebrate it and not celebrate Hanukkah. At the time, Anne was married to a man who was not Jewish but […]
Tree of Awareness
Allen Afterman begins his book Kabbalah and Consciousness by declaring that “as much as Kabbalah is a philosophy it is even more a map of transcendent experience.” There are two important ideas that Afterman touches upon. The first is that Kabbalah is a philosophy. This may come as a surprise to some because Kabbalah emerged […]
A Call to Arms
On election night 2016 those who are good at math were the first to realize that the “path” to being elected President was red and not blue. It became progressively clear that the math would not add up for Hillary Clinton. Even if she would wind up with more overall votes the state Electoral College […]
Ob-Jecting
It started this week with a teacher talking about her student’s objection to her defining a noun as pertaining to a “person, place, thing or idea.” The student, a Buddhist monk trying to learn English, asked: What about animals? Her suggestion that animals are nouns because they are “things” The monk objected to the teacher […]
A Woman Precedent
In her world filled with unicorns, ponies and flying Pegasus a 5 year old girl looked up to ask, “A woman running for President?” Had my daughter lived in Pakistan, India, Israel, Germany of Great Britain, her incredulity would have been tempered by the women who served (and serve) those countries as heads of state. […]
Olympic Spiritual
Every two years athletes from around the world gather for a ritual called the Olympics. The events, whether winter or summer, are predicated upon sacrifice and culminate in a solemn ceremony of the victorious; the ritual of standing upon a podium to receive an Olympic medal. For the gold medal recipient the ceremony includes the […]
Old Friends
Many years back I was in contact with an elementary school classmate who I had not seen in years and suggested to him that we organize a reunion of our 8th grade graduating class, there were 90 of us and it would have marked 30 years. We began to track people down but quickly found […]
Feel the Jewish
He has not asked me to come to his defense. But he is “family,” so I feel obliged to at least speak up. The issue at hand is larger than Sanders, whether that be Bernie or David. It is not about politics. It is about identity, about family, about relationships. I would like to suggest […]