Today is Yom Kippur on the Jewish calendar. This no-work day of synagogue services, prayer, and fasting is the most solemn holy day in Judaism’s annual cycle of holy/holidays. Today observant Jewish people will recite a long prayer of confession as they lightly tap their chest in a spiritual and physical act of contrition. Toward […]
Seems to me that one of the most self-defeating ways to try and be “holy” is to make it our purpose to be right about everything and wrong about (and in) nothing. I say that after reviewing some seemingly obscure details, and a foundational concept of the whole Bible, from the record of Leviticus— the […]
NPR’s All Thing’s Considered host Madeleine Brand recently did an interview with Forest Whitaker, the executive producer of a 5 part video documentary called “Brick City.” The series tells the story of Mayor Cory Booker’s attempt to restore safety and security to the streets of Newark, New Jersey. Part of the interview includes an emotional […]
My experience with my son’s American bulldog has been an on-again, off-again kind of relationship. Although I’ve occasionally helped to take care of Buddy while my son and his wife were out of town, and even though I’ve never raised my hand or voice at the big boy, every once in a while he acts […]
Some in our day have taken issue with the idea of a national leader who admits before a watching world that his country has made mistakes that have contributed to international problems. Reminds me of a story that my barber told me earlier this week. He said that while volunteering to cut hair at a […]
