Skip to main content

The Blank Page

I am afraid of heights, down escalators and a blank page with a looming deadline. That said, whenever I have something I want to shout out to the world, I rarely have the mechanism or the opportunity. Hence, "The Note: A Cantor's Random Insights."

Do I expect anyone to read this? Not really, but hey, you never know.

And so, on to Post #1.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not My Job? Yom Kippur Mincha Devar Torah 2009

The words and concepts that we will read this afternoon are engrained in each Jew so deeply that they are the essence of Jewish DNA as it were. Known as the “Holiness Code,” the text is a to-do list of making ourselves holy, meaning to be special, unique, separate. Taken at face value, it would seem obvious that these are things we should do: revere your mother and father, keep Shabbat, stay away from idols, don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t be deceitful … to be vulgar, this is a “no-brainer.” But clearly there is more to be gleaned, more to be learned; and we find our lesson in the first two verses of our parashah. Moses is speaking to the “whole Israelite community. We are all here – figuratively if not literally (as I look out into the congregation this afternoon) – and we are all included. These words, these chores, these admonishments are not meant for some of us. We are ALL involved: whether we consider our Jewish practice to be observant, secular, ethnic, cultural; whether we pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Just wondering ...

I'm just wondering how some things - like language trends - work. 1. When did "pro-choice" become *not* pro-life and indeed, "pro-death?" Could it be said that Bristol Palin is pro-choice (meaning pro-death in some circles), having said, “It doesn’t matter what my mom’s views are on it. It was my decision.” 2. When did "pro-Israel" come to exclude people who have a different POV on the situation? 3. When did the charge of "treason" come to mean something to pin on people opposed to one president's policies, but not another's? 4. When did "wait and see" become wink-wink-nudge-nudge for "appeasement?" 5. When did "kol Yisraeil aravim zeh la-zeh" - all Israel is responsible for one another - become code word for racism? 6. When did being intelligent and having the ability to think something through become code word for elite, which has become code for evil? Just wondering. Thoughts are welcome.
Post a Comment
Read more

Living in a Bad Neighborhood

There are many news media, internet blog and Jewish leadership POV's on Israels "Operation Cast Lead" Gaza campaign. Although you periodically hear some voices from the lunatic fringes that appear to rejoice in or black-and-white condemn Israel's actions, most Jewish leadership take the position that, sadly enough, sometimes war is necessary to protect a nation's citizens. Other than jingoists and Marx Brothers comedies, no one initiates war gleefully. At some point a country must say enough is enough and must respond, especially when its people are being bombed each day. Some voices declare a moral relativism between Hamas' bombing incursions into Israel and Israel's response. Some have insisted that Israel should be delivering a "proportional response." Some imply that if only Israel were to do this or that, then Hamas, Hezbollah and her other avowed enemies would go away quietly. I disagree with all these positions. There is NO moral relativis...
1 comment
Read more