Over the last few years, the faucets in my house seem to have developed a syndrome that results in leaking and dripping taps. Sometimes the syndrome starts out as a drop here and there, but you can be sure that over time that turns into a small and steady trickle. Needless to say, our water bill has been steadily creeping up over time and in fact I am starting to think that I am one of the heaviest water users in Sudbury. We have tried different methods and tricks but alas, nothing really seems to be fixing our plague of leaky faucets.
My wife had been reminding me for a while that it is time to get a plumber, but I was still hesitant and hoping to achieve a quick fix or a miracle plug. But that all changed several weeks ago, when I was ta… Read More »
As I write this note and prepare to usher in the Shabbos, most of Boston and many of its suburbs are under lockdown as 9,000 members of our law enforcement agencies launch one of the biggest manhunts in the nation’s history. Major thoroughfares and large swaths of Boston remain desolate and eerily quiet as residents peak from behind their windows at the happenings on their street. Even in our own small town of Sudbury, many banks and businesses are closed and the roads are visibly quieter.
Yesterday morning started out like a beautiful day with the sun shining on a beaming Boston that was celebrating Patriots Day and busy preparing for the exciting Boston Marathon. As I drove my children to school and went to teach in Boston we passed hundreds of busses on the Massachusetts Turnpike that were going the other direction and ferrying runners to the starting point of the marathon in Hopkinton. Alongside the busses were dozens of police motorbikes and I remember thinking to myself the irony of innocent marathon runners needing police escorts.
This past Wednesday morning as I was driving my children to school in Brookline, I noticed an airplane up in the sky carrying some kind of big banner behind it. I knew that this would excite my children who always find anything flying to be of interest, so I pointed it out to them and watched them crane their necks in trying to read what the banner had to say.
In 1972, my mother was a teacher for the 5th grade class in the Chabad Junior Girls School. One day my mother received a notice that the Minister of Education, a lady by the name of Margaret Thatcher would be coming for a visit and tour of the school. When my mother heard about the important visitor they would be having, she decided to prepare some Mint Chocolates for the Minister together with her students.