You never realize how much stuff you have until you try to move it — from here, where you and your family may have lived, collected, and saved a half-lifetime of possessions  — to there, where a comfortable but more intimate nearby space for a single occupant must s -t -r -e -t -c -h to its limit to contain all that you say you cannot live without — plus accommodate one 12-pound pussycat [...]

The phrase “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” jumps to mind as I venture here that nominated routinely means elected. Might not happen. A dark horse candidate could emerge, wresting the presidency from my hands and leaving me with egg all over my face for daring to write presumptively. Not until Congregation Tifereth Israel’s Annual Meeting in June will the election of officers for the coming year take place. Although past experience indicates [...]

  By now, thanks to the Tikkun Olam group’s whiz-bang volunteer delivery corps — Tom Byrne, Veronica Kaliski, Bill Packard, Suzi Rosenstreich, Madelyn Rothman, Cookie Slade, Rena Wiseman, and myself — and yes, with assistance from the USPS, which has made its rounds unhindered by snow, rain, heat, cold or gloom of night — you have received your yellow candles. Keep them at hand, for with them we will observe Yom Ha Shoah, and memorialize [...]

Memory is flawed. Images and details surface in the mind and, from those bits, a composite of a past experience emerges. Sometimes the memory is blurred, lost in a haze of maybe’s that the passage of time has largely swallowed. Siblings central to a family happening may have different recollections of how an event unfolded — unique perspectives and points of view on the same experience, even though all were present and participating. For sure, [...]

As I write this message for the March issue of The Shofar, the snowfall that began a few hours ago is deepening on my property. From the windows of my office here at home, I can see it accumulating, hanging heavy on the pine trees. It is still February as I write, a time designated to observe Black History Month. And like every year at this time, and just a night or two ago, [...]

Dear Shofar readers,   The Jewish calendar I consult in preparation for the Events Page that heads each month’s issue of The Shofar lists the February dates for Rosh Chodesh (Feb. 9), Purim Katan (Feb. 23), the required readings for each Shabbat and, as a nod to the Gregorian calendar, Presidents’ Day (Feb. 19). Nowhere on the February page is there a mention of Valentine’s Day which, unless here in America you have chosen to [...]

Readers of The Shofar, particularly those who pause for a moment to skim the president’s message, may have noticed that this president tends to use personal experience as the catalyst that informs her bully pulpit. This should come as no surprise; remember, it is this president who leads a memoir-writing class as a side hustle. And what is memoir? Past experience. For this month’s Shofar message, I’ve chosen a past experience that occurred only a [...]

Overheard in the checkout line at Costco: Woman #1: Can you believe this crowd? Look, packed with Christmas shoppers. Woman #2: Christmas shopping seems to start earlier and earlier these days. Woman #1: Well, it’s not even Thanksgiving, but let me be the first to wish you a merry Christmas. Woman #2: I don’t celebrate Christmas. I’m Jewish. Woman #1: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to offend you.   With December [...]

Hard to believe that for the past three-plus years, I have only rarely missed a Shabbat service. Like a modern take on mailmen of yore ...neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays this shul officer from the swift completion of the Zoom setup in the sanctuary. By this time, the Shabbat service rituals and prayers in our sanctuary are etched in my consciousness. So it caught me by surprise on Rosh Hashanah [...]

Except for some technical issues that piqued some of those attending High Holiday services online this year — and we did take steps to correct those problems in the interim between Rosh Hashanah Day 2 and Kol Nidre a week later, thanks to some wizardry by our own Andrea Blaga — services were as well run and enjoyable as ever I’ve witnessed. As president, standing in the place where the buck stops, I must admit [...]