I have been privileged to have been to the Western Wall in Jerusalem several times. There is an awesome and unavoidable sense of history and, for me, a holiness that encompasses the historical and more. There is a custom of inserting little slips of paper inscribed with personal notes, perhaps prayers, in the crevices of the Wall. It was reported …
"Please silence your cellphones." An often-repeated admonition that has become part of our everyday lives. Sometimes heeded, sometimes not. So, heeding the advice, and, more significantly, wanting to enjoy a romantic anniversary dinner, Flo and I silenced our phones and tucked them out of sight. About an hour later, when we were brought desser …
When I go to a live concert I go to enjoy the music and the rapport with the artist. I prefer when the performer connects with the audience. We saw Barbra Streisand at Barclay's last week. A wonderful evening. She is a great performer and still has that great voice. And she certainly connected with the crowd in Brooklyn (where she grew up). B …
Last weekend, we went to Washington to visit our children, Jeremy (and Stephanie) and Mea (and Charles), who live in the nation's capital. We like Washington and having family to visit makes the trips their even more special. But this trip was very special. We drove down to D.C. with a very special passenger. When she heard that we were drivin …
Last Sunday, I attended the annual Commemoration of the Holocaust at Temple Emanu-El in New York. I watched, as I have for so many years, my Mother light a memorial candle with other survivors. We remembered. During the ceremony, survivors were honored and as I listened to their stories, a theme resonated. The majority recounted how they fled and …
At Tuesday's meeting of the Long Island Women's Group, the guest speaker, Joshua Lafazan, told us how, as a high school student, he started an anti drunk driving program that provided safe and free rides to students to avoid driving while intoxicated or being a passenger. Three hundred and fifty rides were provided in 2016. This relatively sm …
I have often written about tradition and I very proudly relate yet one more story. At the Passover Seder (the traditional meal at which the story of the exodus from Egypt is retold), we eat bitter herbs (to remember the bitterness of slavery). For the bitter herbs, my family uses raw horseradish. I remember my father grating the large horseradish …
I wasn't sure what to expect as we entered the restaurant last Saturday for the 50th anniversary dinner reunion of my high school class. Brooklyn Tech was a ‘commuter’ school with students coming from all over the City. So, interaction was limited to school and after-school activities. You didn't have a lot of friends among your classmates. …
Its March 30th and I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to wish Fred a very happy birthday. So, Fred, my friend, my best wishes for a Happy Birthday. I still have that early memory--perhaps one of the first times we met -- of you running over the hill of the cross-country course in back of Schreiber High School. It was quite a while ago …
We had been to the glass artist's studio and Gallery before, but I didn't remember the big neon sign that went through its computer-generated silence, sequenced blinking to full message and back to silence. "LOOK! SEE?" At first glance, a very simple message. Look at the art but are you seeing it? Really seeing? Allow t …
It was an uncomfortable feeling of something missing as I realized that the cold on my head was the result of the absence of my favorite winter hat. Baseball style, cashmere, waterproof, with ear flaps - available if needed yet neatly folded out of sight most of the time. A perfect hat. On Monday, with the blizzard on its way, I was meeting a …
I'm looking for a word - perhaps not yet invented or evolved - or perhaps the extension of the meaning or import of an existing word. Here's the background to my search. A friend has an appointment on a certain day and, having been advised of this important event, I ask to be informed of the outcome as expeditiously as possible. "Let me know. I'd …
I just finished reading “Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates” by Brian Kilmeade and DanYaeger. A very good read about the war against the pirates of the Barbary Coast and the birth of the US navy and marines. Hence the words to the marine corps song. “..,to the shores of Tripoli." The authors also wrote “George Washington’s Secret Six” abou …
At first, I thought that the photograph on the front page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal was historical. As a child of Holocaust survivors, I have seen many pictures of gravestones toppled at Jewish cemeteries in Europe during the 1930's. I then realized that the photograph is not historical. It is current. It is today's news. A cemetery near …
Pitchers and catchers reporting early. Spring training. My nephew, Jared - who covers baseball for the Wall Street Journal - on his way to warmer climates. This is a good time of year for optimists. How are the teams shaping up? Who is healthy? Who's reporting in good shape? Can we finish better than last season? We need an outlet. We need hope. …
