The Talmud tells this story (in Berachot 60b):
Rabbi Akiva was once going along the road and he came to a certain town and looked for lodgings. But everywhere he went, he was refused.
He sighed and said, “Whatever the All-Merciful does is for good.”
So because he couldn’t find a place to stay in the town, he traveled out of town, into an open field, and camped out there. Continue reading “Whatever the All-Merciful Does Is for Good”
…make sure you have a wingsuit!
Happy weekend!
-TimK
(This is part 2 in my series on 1 Corinthians 5. Click here to read from the beginning.)
One marvels at the repetition of intentionally tragic stories, like Evergreene’s: After her Christian marriage ended in divorce, and after she slogged through the concomitant depression, she decided she’d be happier living a bisexual, polyamorous lifestyle. She hid her new lifestyle from her Southern Baptist friends and family, but not well enough. Continue reading “A Little Truth Would Go a Long Way”
Last week, I drove my daughter’s iPad down to her at to school.
One of the Blue Shirts there in the parking lot approached me and asked what I was doing, and told me, “we get a little concerned,” because I was waiting there for her. I figured, as soon as he realized I was a parent who had a legitimate reason to be at the school, that would be the end of the conflict. But during our short conversation, he repeated this line several times, “we get a little concerned.”
I said, “Sorry about that.” But what I was thinking was, “‘Concern’ on your part does not translate to a demand on mine.”
And maybe if I were a bigger asshole, I would have said, “Well, I’m sorry you feel concerned. Maybe if I bring you some milk and cookies next time, you’ll feel better. Would you like that?” Continue reading “Replacing Passive-Aggressiveness with Grace and Beauty”
The Passover stuff is already out at the grocery store. At the other end of the store, an even greater selection of pastel-colored candy and related items.
But Pesach is still several weeks away, and first I have another bat mitzvah to think of. My Beloved will finally herself be called to the Torah in an adult bat mitzvah. Better late than never, as they say.
We’re all helping out. Our younger daughter is laining the day’s maftir portion. Our elder daughter is canting as chazzanit. And I am laining the New Testament reading for the day, which is from First Corinthians chapter 5: Continue reading “Removing the Leaven from Passover”
“Evil Overlord Rule 199†by Ares Johnson
Oh, once there was a wicked, wicked man
And Haman was his name sir,
He would have murdered all the Jews,
Though they were not to blame sir
Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be
Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be
Oh today, we’ll merry, merry be
And nosh some hamantashen.
I posted a link to this classic children’s Purim song, earlier this week.
The first challenging thought that forces itself on me: What makes us think that Haman was “wicked”? I’ve written before about Haman’s humanity. There, but the for the grace of God… Continue reading “Should We Merry Merry Be?”
At our synagogue, we have yet to do a pirate-themed Purim spiel, inspired by Edward Kritzler’s history of Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. (And that is a true fact.) Continue reading “A Wicked, Wicked Man (video)”
Therefore, here’s a video of every conference call you’ve ever been in…
(Except for the one with the speakerphone that doesn’t quite work right, and you can’t understand anything anyone is saying.)
Dear God,
Just a quick note: I think your thermostat is broken. The temperature is supposed to be in the 40’s.
Sincerely,
Tim from New England
Or does God use a weather-control grid?
Yesterday, I discovered that it can be dangerous to shop at Target.
…wearing a red shirt.
I was walking along, minding my own business. I had been re-listening to season 1 of Gregg Taylor’s character Martin Bracknell’s radio play Black Jack Justice (one of my favorite latter-day online radio series). I had paused my smartphone’s podcast player and removed my earbuds, and was poking through my email, when a guy walked up to me.