Kevin Youkilis is gone and the Red Sox won’t be the same again (without our man from the Shtetl). Around here it seems to be the big news of the week and in fact even President Obama made a joke about how lucky Chicago was to get a Red Sox player. Honestly as someone who grew up in England and only knew about soccer and cricket it took me a while and a few dedicated individuals until I begun to understand Baseball and the passion and fever that Boston has for the Red Sox, but now that I do, I will miss Kevin too.
Now have you heard about the the Red Heifer? Is that a Red Sox promotion or something? Well actually, besides being the color red, it has no connection to the Boston Red Sox or at least according to Wikipedia. In fact,… Read More »
Recently a colleague of mine recounted an incident that he experienced as a young child in the 1970’s when he experienced a bad sports injury that almost left him blind in one eye. After having several procedures on his eye, he had to wear a big bandage on his eye for several weeks. Being the young boy that he was, he was extremely embarrassed and felt out of place among his friends and in school. However, his misery was yet to get worse, as a few days later on the holiday of Lag Baomer his class was going to be one of the groups that would march along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn in a parade presided over by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in front of thousands of members of the community. He was dreading the moment of h… 
Mission Impossible! We cannot succeed! These were the words uttered by the first Mossad intelligence operatives upon returning from an intelligence-gathering mission in the land that was to become Israel. They continued, “There is no way we can do it, we won’t succeed in setting up a country in this place, these people are too powerful for us, they will consume us and destroy us in battle”. This by the way is not modern history but is actually an event that took place 3324 years ago, when the first Mossad Operatives were appointed by Moses in the desert were sent to spy out the land of Israel and gather information. While they succeed in not getting caught and in gathering plenty of intelligence, they returned with a disma… 
Participants at the last class of Chabad of Sudbury's "Art of Marriage" course enjoyed the final class along with a delicious Bagel Dinner which was sponsored and prepared by course participants Ed & Robin Brookmyer. The course which covered many aspects of relationships and marriage ranging included topics such as Jewish wisdom on intimacy, love, divorce, improving oneself and many more aspects of marriage.
A beautiful song by one child, spectacular paintings by a few other children, creative Lego Aleph Beis letters by some others, a beautiful hand crafted Aleph by another and multiple other presentations, songs and activities were part of the year end celebration and graduation of the Chabad Hebrew School. The smiling happy faces said it all, Chabad of Sudbury's Hebrew School is one happy great place to be, making the children and their parents happy, knowledgeable and proud of their Jewish identity and its values.
As a subject of Queen Elizabeth and as someone who was raised in Great Britain, this week's Diamond Jubilee celebrations of 60 years of the Queen's rule were an interesting and fascinating sight to follow. Over the years, Queen Elizabeth has honored several individuals who I know for their communal and social work, including the Rabbi of Chabad of the UK, Rabbi Nachman Sudak and overall has sought to be very inclusive of the Jewish Community.
Last night I got an automated call from the Sudbury Emergency Management System telling me that due to a low water table there is an immediate water ban during daytime hours. I hardly ever water my lawn and garden unless the kids are really determined to turn on the hose, which they always seem to want to do, so the ban is not going to impact me too much. However, while we are on that topic let me tell you another frustration I have with my garden.