Writing is Remembering
A Mouse With a Peanut. Painting by Albert Anker (1831-1910). My maternal grandmother, of blessed memory, used to say that if someone wants to give you something free, take it. If you can't use it, she said, pass it on to someone who can. There is a lot of wisdom in my grandmother's saying. She … Continue reading A Puny Creature Like You?
Wilensky's Light Lunch, Montreal. Photo by Shawn Goldwater. I was in my forties the first time I visited Montreal. I had a young family, not a lot of money, and only two weeks of vacation time a year, one of which was already accounted for. A holiday was a rare and cherished occasion. My former … Continue reading I Don’t Know How to Dance
Mug shot of Vincenzo Perugia, the man who stole the Mona Lisa out of the Louvre Museum in Paris. Do you believe it is possible to learn from everyone, even from someone whose behavior is unethical? I don't mean to learn from them only negative lessons, for example, what not to do, or how not … Continue reading A Thief Is Modest
A Female Farmer From South China in the 1930s. ROC reporter, 1935. In his book, A Tzaddik in Our Time: The Life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin, author Simcha Raz relates a story from Rabbi Levin's life containing advice about how to treat a wife. One of the rabbi's young students was about to get married. He … Continue reading A Moment of Marriage
Streptopelia turtur (European turtle dove). John Gerrard Keulemans, 1869. A popular question asked by interviewers, particularly of celebrities, is what book they would like to have with them if they found themselves stranded on a desert island. "A desert island, or uninhabited island," according to Wikipedia, "is an island, islet or atoll that is not … Continue reading Arise and Go, My Friend
Solitude, by Marc Chagall. Paris, 1933. Over the last several weeks, like you, I have had to live in a scary world with increasing restrictions on what I am permitted and not permitted to do. For instance, I am allowed to go only to certain places and just for specific reasons. My walks with my … Continue reading An Unrealistic World of My Own
Construction of Xerxes Bridge of boats by Phoenician sailors. I used to work in the Information Systems Department of a large insurance company in the US. One morning, I arrived at work to find a colleague vigorously punching his computer terminal. He struck the metal casing several solid blows. Once he had settled down a … Continue reading The Unruliness of Our Minds
What can you do when you find yourself suddenly, and unexpectedly, in the power of someone you have offended, and they have revenge in mind? Assume the situation is one in which they can ruin your reputation, or deprive you of your livelihood, or take your life. Are there ways to handle the situation, to … Continue reading Softening the Hearts
Cando ke Rajkumar Kulfi, aka "The Wonder-Dog." I don't remember when I first came across the saying, "Be the person your dog already thinks you are." My wife says it might have been on a bumper sticker on a car in our old neighborhood in the States. Regardless of when I first became aware of … Continue reading Splendour and Travail
Robert Frost's home in Shaftsbury, VT.Photo by Beth Ben-Avraham, ©2020 All Rights Reserved. Have you ever admired a person and then learned about something they said or did, or didn't say or didn't do, that caused you to examine your feelings about them? It's happened to me on more than one occasion. Often, quite often, … Continue reading Weak Creatures of Clay
