Sep 18, 2022·edited Sep 18, 2022Liked by Esther Cohen
At the end of my turn at the bima, Alter Kriegel the Rabbi in Verona NJ held my hand and looked me in the eye as he verbally scrolled through the history of Judaism from paleolithic time down to the present. He was a jucy speaker.
After the third hour of his monologue my mind and attention started to wander to the bucolic Verona landscape out the window and they drifted away. Later my mother and sister took me to task for not paying attention to the Rabbi when he was speaking to me. To hell with him, I thought, I was by then a man.
Many thanks to Esther for my own two thoughts that bloomed from her essay.
1. I would love to hear people's recollections of their Bar/Bas Mitzvahs The single most poignant version of Jewish coming-of-age events in our times is from "GoodBye Columbus" which, in class and point of view, gives us lots to riff off of, but does not, surely, tell the whole story. Personally I love the view from the Bimah that Esther offers-- what does a kid do at her/his most awkward age when given the full attention of a congregation? To whom did we pitch those talks? If we got to do it again, what might we say? How does one generation see their own event in terms of a family history? So much here to play with.
2. The second thought is born from Esther's comment about unpredictability. I am thinking here mostly of weddings. People (not me I must admit) want the day to be perfect and invest considerably in making it so. This thought connects directly to my daughter's 2022-3 pregnancy where boatloads of technology sail in to predict everything from blood flow through the four chambers of the heart to genetic mutations. It seems to suggest that if we can get a "perfect" baby to emerge, we can stop worrying. And how untrue we know THAT to be. Perhaps it is worth thinking about the unpredictable from the perspective of Altes/elders. So much to write about there!
Thank you, Esther for these morning thoughts, that may offer readers and contributors important and even novel directions for morning thoughts or afternoon prose. Perhaps even a poem or a drawing or a song..
Zayer geet geshriben Esther, Tateleh ! Hub mit dine gonse mespucha a freilicher un gezunt nayeh yoor! Ess, trink, tanz, arbeit ale h tzeommen, alleh stefreeden!!
At the end of my turn at the bima, Alter Kriegel the Rabbi in Verona NJ held my hand and looked me in the eye as he verbally scrolled through the history of Judaism from paleolithic time down to the present. He was a jucy speaker.
After the third hour of his monologue my mind and attention started to wander to the bucolic Verona landscape out the window and they drifted away. Later my mother and sister took me to task for not paying attention to the Rabbi when he was speaking to me. To hell with him, I thought, I was by then a man.
terrific story Bernard Greenwald. Thanks for telling us.
Shana Tova.
Life is definitely like a novel..except truth is stranger, more interesting--less surprising--than fiction.
What is a considered man?
Thank you for this lovely piece.
Many thanks to Esther for my own two thoughts that bloomed from her essay.
1. I would love to hear people's recollections of their Bar/Bas Mitzvahs The single most poignant version of Jewish coming-of-age events in our times is from "GoodBye Columbus" which, in class and point of view, gives us lots to riff off of, but does not, surely, tell the whole story. Personally I love the view from the Bimah that Esther offers-- what does a kid do at her/his most awkward age when given the full attention of a congregation? To whom did we pitch those talks? If we got to do it again, what might we say? How does one generation see their own event in terms of a family history? So much here to play with.
2. The second thought is born from Esther's comment about unpredictability. I am thinking here mostly of weddings. People (not me I must admit) want the day to be perfect and invest considerably in making it so. This thought connects directly to my daughter's 2022-3 pregnancy where boatloads of technology sail in to predict everything from blood flow through the four chambers of the heart to genetic mutations. It seems to suggest that if we can get a "perfect" baby to emerge, we can stop worrying. And how untrue we know THAT to be. Perhaps it is worth thinking about the unpredictable from the perspective of Altes/elders. So much to write about there!
Thank you, Esther for these morning thoughts, that may offer readers and contributors important and even novel directions for morning thoughts or afternoon prose. Perhaps even a poem or a drawing or a song..
Yes it would be wonderful to hear everyone's stories
Zayer geet geshriben Esther, Tateleh ! Hub mit dine gonse mespucha a freilicher un gezunt nayeh yoor! Ess, trink, tanz, arbeit ale h tzeommen, alleh stefreeden!!