When I was a kid and drove with my father from our hometown of Lowell, Mass to the orthodontist in Boston, we would go through the streets of Cambridge. I would notice the rather decrepit looking triple deckers, the small apartment buildings, the dirty streets – and the dark faces. I remember questioning my father and asking why people had to live that way. Continue reading
Category Archives: Lampert Library
T-Day Trivia
Did you know that the Hebrew word hodu, means both turkey and give thanks. So hodu for hodu.
In Yiddish the word for turkey is indik which is related to India perhaps because the explorers thought that they had reached the East Indies. Continue reading
Noah and the Ark
And we begin again. A good book is worth rereading as we do the Torah every year. This past Shabbat, we began the annual cycle of reading about the world’s most dysfunctional family.
Is there any emotion or problem that the first family and its descendants didn’t face in the course of many generations: jealousy, fratricide, cheating, lying, murder, rape, impersonating , broken hearts, lust, infertility, lack of confidence? God may have been the world’s first therapist. Continue reading
Generations
Family lore has it that Grandpa Julius, my father’s father, was the only man in the shtetl of Skidel with a gun and that he was spirited out of town in a coffin because ”they” were after him. It’s hard to believe that this man of few words, whom I never heard raise his voice, might have had violence in this past.
Or Did Grandpa Sam, a small, quiet, white haired man with impeccable handwriting really know the Talmud so well that if you stuck a pin through a word, he would know the word on the other side of the page?
What do these family stories have to do with the High Holidays coming up? Continue reading
Anniversaries
Anniversaries are something to look forward to with joy, sadness, appreciation, or awe.
This past weekend we marked the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC, a group of ministers and related individuals, fighting for the struggle for civil rights.
Time to Prepare
When you see this at Costco, you know that the Days of Awe, the High Holidays, will soon be upon us.
All kidding aside, we are right in the middle of the month of Elul, the prelude to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar sounds each day (except Shabbat) and we recite Psalm 27 to remind us that the holidays are near. Continue reading
The Jewish Catalog Turns Fifty
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to The Jewish Catalog,. How old are you now?
This year The Jewish Catalog: a do-it-yourself kit reached the venerable age of fifty — right smack in middle age. When most of us reach that age, we show signs that we have arrived: some gray at our temples, a few wrinkles, maybe even a desire for a midday nap. But a fifty-year-old is hardly over the hill these days and may look forward to some of his or her best years. Continue reading
Summer Reading Suggestions
Summer’s a good time to break out of your reading rut.
Do you only read biographies? Try a romance. (Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Zevin)
Are you scientific minded? Immerse yourself in some historical fiction. (The Thread Collectors by Edwards) Continue reading
New CAJE is coming
New CAJE is coming to Montclair State for the 2nd time. There are no animals but there is a plethora of stimulating educational sessions from Sunday, July 15 through Wednesday, July 19.
What is New CAJE? The website calls New CAJE ”the premier professional development conference for Jewish educators. Each year 400+ educators gather for four days of learning, entertainment, prayer, and networking opportunities.” Check out the sessions on the website: www.newcaje.org Continue reading
Musical Legacy
Some say that along with jazz the most important contribution the United States has made to the musical world is in musical theater.
With the recent death of Sheldon Harnick at age 99, the creators (many of whom were Jews) of classic American musicals like Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and South Pacific are gone. But they leave a legacy of hundreds of works that have entertained generations. Almost daily one of these classic shows is being performed somewhere in the world by a school or a theater group.