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Last Sunday, Hall of Fame sportscaster Vin Scully retired. His 67 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers offered a model of civility too often missing in our nation. What made him, in addition to his upbeat and warm persona, a prototype for American political and societal behavior? Certainly, you’ve got to be good to broadcast…
Sunday evening, Jews will observe Rosh Hashanah, the New Year (5777). Ten days later comes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Unlike during the rest of the year, the sanctuary at Sherith Israel, my synagogue, will be full. Interestingly, most in attendance won’t know the Hebrew (our prayer book offers transliterations into English), or the…
Political correctness recently broke out in Brisbane, Australia. Officials at a writers festival were so upset with novelist and keynote Lionel Shriver (The Mandibles), “they censored her on the festival website and publicly disavowed her remarks,” according to the New York Times. What horrific things did she say? “Ms. Shriver criticized as runaway political correctness…
What if New York’s Twin Towers had been felled (and the Pentagon attacked and a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania) on December 25? We would long remember that terrible day. So would celebrating Christmas in America be halted? Recently, American Muslims feared that the festival of Eid al-Adha would fall on September 11. Could Muslims…
Once, a king couldn’t decide which of his three sons should inherit his crown. He also had a daughter, but in addition to being a girl, she was modest and seldom spoke. In the royal court, as everyone knew, words meant everything. The dilemma haunted the king. The oldest prince was cruel and doubtless would…
Carolyn and I recently took our son Aaron’s dog Saffy for a walk near our house. In front of the Presidio Landmark apartments (in the Presidio National Park), we spotted an interesting dog. Well, Carolyn thought it was a dog. I knew what it really was. Coyotes started popping up in San Francisco a decade…
The Hebrew word shalom means “hello,” “goodbye” and “peace.” It comes from shalem, which means wholeness. When we feel whole, we experience shalom—peace. When we don’t, our inner conflicts can have grave consequences for ourselves and those around us. This theme ran through the four movies Carolyn and I recently saw at the Jewish Film…