Last Sunday I attended the annual Holocaust Commemoration at Temple Emanu-El. As in recent years, for me the ceremony accentuates the fact that the number of survivors is decreasing every year. My Mother lights one of the thirty-six memorial candles and, unfortunately, there were not enough survivors to light them all. As I listened to the stories …
Cameras are ubiquitous and the pictures and videos taken by them are playing an ever-increasing part in our lives. I recently heard a legal analyst refer to videos as the new DNA of criminal prosecutions. Call me “old fashioned”, but I am not one who immediately thinks of taking out my cell phone and taking pictures, let alone a video. (Flo and I …
There was an eerie sense as I opened my eyes the other morning. Something wasn't right. As my eyes focused, I realized that none of the usual lights were on. No digital numbers on the clock radio, no telltale glows from the chargers plugged into the wall and no ambient light from the street. No power. I went to the window and confirmed the trou …
Cayce’s blog yesterday was the perfect lead for mine today. As we approach this Passover and Easter holiday weekend, traditions are embraced. One of my favorites is making two of the traditional foods for the Passover Seders. Once again, I’ll be making the charoset -- a mixture of apples, walnuts and wine representing the mortar used by the Hebre …
When it comes to social media, I am delayed. A few weeks ago, I would have said that I don't do social media. My change to “delayed” status reflects my recent experience with Kickstarter. I had heard of Kickstarter, but until our children, Alyssa and Jason, put their new project on Kickstarter, I had never visited the site...nor had much inclin …
As we settled into our seats at the theater, I opened the Playbill and read the insert asking that I shut off my cell phone. The request went beyond the usual reminder to “silence” the device. “PLEASE...turn off your cell phones...” the insert implored, followed by an explanation of how even silenced phones interfered with the theater’s sound syste …
So the question is whether the snow will melt before we are accustomed to the fact that it is now dark in the morning when we get up. I apologize to those who may live in parts where the snow was trucked out of sight long ago but some of us are left to endure the mounds of snow -- some natural and some the result of clearing and piling. (When will …
We got away from the cold last week. Sun, warm, beach, T-shirts. Lots of T-shirts and baseball-style hats. Almost all had something to say. In first place were those reminding everyone that we were in Aruba. Perhaps intended to be helpful to others who may have forgotten where they are, yet understandable only for those who may have forgotten t …
2 Fools And A Bull is a restaurant in Aruba. Only one sitting per evening. About sixteen people sitting around a counter with the chef and host in the center. Chef’s choice and many courses with wine. Lends itself to good conversation with interesting new friends for the evening. We had a wonderful meal and evening at 2 Fools And A Bull last …
My heart goes out to the family of Kayla Mueller. I am not sure that I can add anything to the story of her idealistic journey that brought her into captivity and death at he hands of ISIL. When I think of Kayla and her family -- when all this is seen through the eyes of parents -- the question of ransom cannot be far behind. The President is being …
Recently, I was at a seminar in one of the midtown hotels. You know, a few hundred people in neat rows of seats behind narrow tables. Since this was a high-end seminar, coffee was served. I took a cup back to my seat and placed it on the table in front of me. No sooner had I done so when a women - seeking to find a seat in the row in front of …
This past Tuesday marked the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in 1945. My Mother had been transported from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp a few months earlier. Her “liberation” would not come until a few months later. In conjunction with this anniversary, there has been press …
I expected that it would be an easy flight. I smiled as the family with young children slid into the seats behind us. Two children who were about three or four years old. The father sat in the middle of the three-seat row. The mother, and another child, sat in the same row on the other side of the aisle. Shortly after takeoff, the kicking again …
I saw the headline in the Metro section of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal -- “The Politics of Apology: A Standoff”. On Tuesday, Victoria Drogin commented at the Long Island Women’s Group meeting that women tend to apologize, whereas men generally don’t. And I recall being instructed by a Senior partner at my first law firm never to apologize. A …
As I brushed the snow off the car the other morning, I thought of family and friends who have left New York for warmer parts. I am fond of kidding my Mother -- who spends the winter in Florida -- that the happiness of New Yorkers in Florida is inversely related to the weather: the poorer the weather in New York, the happier they are. (As any mot …
