There were two kinds of birds in the great forest; Blue jays, which were called Blues, and Cardinals, known among the birds as Reds. The Forest Birds were led by a Circle of Birds that lived in a great Willow tree on a field at the edge of the great forest. These were known as the Willow Birds.

All the birds lived in peace sharing an abundance of bugs and occasional worms, until one day the Circle of Birds decided to make a list. “The list will be of worms.” they said, “That we may know where our abundance lies.”

Stella, a forest bird whose mother was blue and father was red and had white speckles on her tail, said “No lists. Lists are for people and machines and will make us like them.”

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Introducing my new blog. Jack etc. Sew like a man.

Perhaps you’ve already heard about the king, who was told he had received the gift of an elephant… » Continue Reading

As some of you know I attended the same summer camp for 12 years. Many of these, especially the early ones were painful and lonely. Recently I’ve participated in efforts to build a web-site community for the camp’s alumni. Many of the old feelings get stirred up as I hob-nob with old friends and acquaintances. All this informed my study of Joseph for a talk in shul this weekend.
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D’var Torah means “words of Torah”. Typically given before the assembly after prayers and the reading of the week’s bible portion. This was written after the Terrorist Attack on 9/11 in preparation for my wedding on 9/16 2001. It was reworked for posting on 9/21/2001. Today it migrates to ZebraTalk.

Martin Buber says in Ten Rungs:

“When a man is singing and cannot lift his voice and another comes and sings with him, another who can lift his voice, the first will be able to lift his voice too. That is the secret of the bond between spirits. ”
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