Tag: Judaism

Nothing is Simple About Terrorism in Israel

Ping!

My assistant coach hit a practice grounder to the left side of the pitcher’s mound. Our shortstop shifted his weight slightly, caught the ball in his glove and tossed it up just past his shoulder. He snatched it out of the air with his bare hand and fired a throw to first. The first baseman had to stretch his glove down the foul line to make the catch but managed to keep his foot on the base. I pursed my lips slightly but kept quiet.

Ping!

Coach hit another ground ball, this time to third. The third baseman moved to his right to catch the ball backhanded with his glove, made a quick 360-degree turn as he transferred the ball to his other hand and threw the ball as hard as he could. I watched the ball sail into the outfield and decided I’d seen enough.

“Hey!” I yelled. “Everybody bring it in for a minute.”

The team jogged over to me and looked up expectantly.

“Look,” I began, “we don’t need flashy plays here. This isn’t Sportscenter; nobody’s making the Top Ten Plays or Web Gems and we don’t get any extra points for style. Just make the play.”

I heard a number of chuckles, mixed with some slight groans and an, “Aww man!” from the team.

“Seriously!” I pressed. “I want boring! Give me the most boring, straightforward plays you can make. I don’t want to see Derek Jeter throwing the ball as he jumps and spins. I want to see you field the ball cleanly, set your feet, make a solid throw to get the out, and I want to yawn!”

The players laughed as they returned to their positions to continue practicing. Continue reading “Nothing is Simple About Terrorism in Israel”

Pride in our Success

My grandfather spoke during the prayer service at my bar mitzvah when I turned thirteen. He waxed poetic about the importance of leading a good Jewish life, learning Torah, continuing to maintain the rituals with which I’d been brought up and, most of all, about success. He had literally spent his life devoted to Judaism, studying to become a rabbi for his Jewish community in India and then moving with his family to Philadelphia to assume the pulpit at Mikveh Israel, the second-oldest synagogue in the United States. Continue reading “Pride in our Success”

Freedom and Rebirth in the Shadow of COVID-19

I could smell my wife’s cooking from outside the front door to our apartment.

She hadn’t spent more than an hour in the kitchen that afternoon; her other commitments to lesson planning, phone calls to her students’ families and parenting didn’t leave time for much more than that. But she made the most of that hour, churning out three different dishes in preparation for our Passover seder – the formal holiday feast – the next evening.

We left when she was finished for our daily constitutional that prevents cabin fever from winning the battle for control of our sanity. I came back a half hour later to retrieve sweatshirts for my family but paused before putting my key in the lock.

I stood outside our door and inhaled the aromas of spice, comfort and love creeping into the hallway. I closed my eyes for a moment, forcing myself to experience the feelings brought on by the sweetness infiltrating the air. The warmth traveled through me like a spring thaw; an appropriate analogy, given the time of year.

But it didn’t feel like Passover. Continue reading “Freedom and Rebirth in the Shadow of COVID-19”

Hanukkah Inclusion or Anti-Semitic Symbolism? Flip a Coin.

The store always seemed to be crowded, even when it wasn’t, and that afternoon was no exception. I only needed a few things so I was finished with the actual shopping fairly quickly. I wove back between the shoppers, carts and strollers and took my place at the back of the checkout line which was, predictably, almost at the back of the store. The other tortoises and I moved forward, slowly but steadily, making sure to glance up from our phones frequently enough to make sure we hadn’t fallen behind.

I was about halfway to the registers when a particular “‘Tis the Season” display caught my eye. The rest of the store had been outfitted, just like most stores are at this time of year, with snowflakes, evergreen trees and red and white hats sporadically dotting the walls and aisles. But at that spot, hanging from the ceiling, were large cardboard dreidels, painted in a variety of colors not unlike the apples on the table below them. Just above each dreidel was a cutout of a coin, each one representing a different country’s currency.

I loved the dreidels.

I didn’t love the coins. Continue reading “Hanukkah Inclusion or Anti-Semitic Symbolism? Flip a Coin.”

Being Jewish in a German Airport

I don’t usually like to put disclaimers at the start of blog posts. I actually don’t really like putting disclaimers before any sort of comment because it seems like no matter how clearly I’m able to explain the reasoning or intent behind what I’m about to say, someone will end up interpreting it in the opposite way. Whether that happens because they think my disclaimer is insincere or because the disclaimer includes the opposite idea and I’ve just put it into their head is sort of irrelevant. The point is that I think disclaimers usually create a bias or a tension before the actual discussion can even start. And yet, even with all of that said, I still feel like I need a preface of some sort here because the subject matter feels a bit uncomfortable.

Ugh, never mind. I’ll just come out and say it and I’ll explain afterwards:

I felt really weird at the airport in Germany because I’m Jewish. Continue reading “Being Jewish in a German Airport”

Religious Education and Spontaneous Combustion

This week I had one of those fantastic moments in class where I blew a student’s mind.

The class was made up of students in sixth and seventh grades. The broader lesson revolved around interfaith relationships and focused particularly on the degree to which we, as Jews, should be educated about other religions. I’m on record with my students as saying that it is not only a good idea to learn about other religions and cultures, it is critical for Judaism’s survival that we learn about the people around us so that we can find ways to coexist peacefully. Judaism has never existed in a vacuum and part of my lesson was imparting the message that we need to understand the beliefs of others in order to maintain healthy relationships with them. It is a matter of keeping the peace and being good neighbors, to be sure; but, for a nation that has been attacked and persecuted as long as it has existed, it is also a matter of survival.  Continue reading “Religious Education and Spontaneous Combustion”

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