I met a congenial Quaker at a party. I didn’t know anybody else at the party except the hosts, and I always feel a bit awkward at parties, so I was happy to have the friendly Quaker to talk to. I can’t remember how his being a Quaker came up. Once it did, though, we … More Do Religious Differences Matter?
Removing our tefillin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin) after a weekday morning synagogue service, a fellow worshiper and I started reminiscing about serving weekday Masses as altar boys in our youth. We could both remember trudging through the snow (he, in Edmonton and I, in Denver) to serve weekday Masses as early as 6 am. And there were always … More Nostalgia
It is amazing, to me at least, that independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, has emerged as a viable candidate in the Democratic primary. The U.S. seems to be relentlessly center-right and is beginning to resemble an oligarchy much more than a democracy. The Republican Party has moved to the … More Bernie Sanders
Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, actually said in an interview on MSNBC, “… we’ve never in the history of this country passed any laws or done anything based on race or religion.” http://mashable.com/2016/01/13/nikki-haley-race-religion/#GZXjJ6cfE8qQ What’s astonishing about her pronouncement is that she simply can’t be lying. Nobody would intentionally tell such an obvious whopper. … More Explaining the Unexplainable
On the face of it, equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism seems absurd. Many defenders of Israel argue that criticism of Israel becomes anti-Semitic when it calls into question Israel’s right to exist. But how can criticism of specific policies pose an existential threat to any state? Massive opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam … More Criticism of Israel and Anti-Semitism
When I was in grade school in the 1950s, it was fairly rare to run into an adult who didn’t smoke. By the time I was in the eighth grade it was getting pretty rare to run into an eighth grade boy who didn’t smoke. The girls seem to wait until high school. The Catholic … More Smoking Cigarettes
For years I worked out three times a week at the University of Alberta gym. My workout partner was a history professor who specialized in Eastern Europe and had done extensive research on the Holocaust in Ukraine. While we were working out, we talked about everything under the sun. Once a woman who was working … More Discourse, Violence, and the Balance of Power
My father died when I was four. A few blurry memories I have of him and stories I heard from my sisters years later paint the picture of my father I have now. My mother never denigrated him, and although she never talked about him much, she always told me how much he had loved … More Moral Parameters in the 1950s
When I was about 15, I was living alone with my single mother. My sister Evie had married and left home long before I was born. My sister Carol had married and moved out when I was 13, and a few years earlier my sister Shirley had moved to California to live with our brother Bill. … More Memories of My Brother Bill
Sitting in shul on Shabbos, he found that his mind always wandered during the preliminary prayers. He wondered whether using the words “shul” and “Shabbos” was an affectation for a convert. Maybe he should say “synagogue” and “Sabbath” or at least “Shabbat.” Nonsense. How could one be affected in an internal dialogue? He supposed, in … More The Convert
No Harm Spilt 