Blog
They—whoever they may be—say that truth is stranger than fiction. As a novelist and a lover of satire, I’ll go along with that. Because based on what recently transpired in Afghanistan and what I’ve recently experienced with my novel Slick! truth indeed can make us wonder, “How did that happen?” As to Afghanistan, we know…
Yesterday (beginning Wednesday evening) Jews celebrated Purim. We read the Book of Esther, which presents a great threat to the Jews of ancient Persia. So what’s changed? According to the megillah (scroll/story), Haman, King Ahasuerus’s top counselor, responds negatively to the Jewish Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him. “Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers…
Spring training is on with baseball’s exhibition games starting. And next week’s Torah portion (Ki Tissa, Exodus 30:11–34:35) tells the story of the Golden Calf. There’s a relationship here. Let’s start with Torah. The Israelites, worried that Moses remains on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights, ask his brother Aaron to make a god…
Last Tuesday, I watched a TV report from Homs, Syria by Marie Colvin, a Long Island native working out of London as foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times. It was both emotional and sobering. Colvin, who sported a patch over her left eye resulting from a hand grenade thrown in Sri Lanka, commented on the…
Two movements with similar names are sweeping the nation. One deals with basketball. The other with our presidential campaign. The first is newer, more fun and a lot healthier for the nation. “Linsanity” has recorded the impact made by Jeremy Lin, point guard for basketball’s New York Knicks, who emerged in the past two weeks…
Jerusalem and Birmingham, Alabama constitute two very different and distant cities. But given the elephant in the political room—the issue that presidential candidates and the incumbent government prefer to avoid—they’re a lot closer than you think. This week’s Newsweek (2-13-12) includes an article on Alabama’s recent immigration law. While H.B. 56 meets Alabamians’ needs for…
The Occupy movement has occupied a lot of media attention—particularly in Oakland where the other one percent continue to clash with police. Earlier this week, the other one percent managed to trash the lobby of Oakland City Hall and burn an American flag. That’s pretty productive considering they kept janitors working and reduced flag inventory,…
I went to an auto-supply store yesterday looking for valve caps for my tires and got a lesson in politics. A woman in her mid-forties approached me with two different cans of motor oil. “Which would you get?” she asked. I suggested she check with a sales associate. She held one aloft. “I suppose this…
I saw a TV commercial last week featuring small children quoting and commenting on John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have life eternal.” Now, I have no brief with people of any religion expressing their faith.…
In the Mishnah, Rabbi Eliezer advises us to “Return [to God] one day before you die. (Pirke Avot 2:10).” But none of us knows the day of our death. Thus we should repent daily. My friend Bruce’s friend’s father died last Friday at 72—five years older than me. He was healthy, active and vital. The…