At This Moment

This is one of those push the keys and see what happens moments. I could transcribe from my diary, or write about the last few days, or talk politics. But I don't yet know what I want to do. Except I certainly don't want to talk politics. Pray. Yes. Sigh. Yes. Talk. No.

Perhaps a word about the poem in the previous post. I wrote a while back about Rabbi Adelman, gave some background about how I found his two books. And I said I'd post some poems eventually. This one strikes me strongly.

I once asked Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein about a sense of humor. What's the proper place of humor in the life of a Jew. And, after saying it was a good question, he thought a second and said, "I don't know if it's my Western influence or a true Jewish value, but I know that if I'm around someone who lacks a sense of humor I feel very uncomfortable."

Sounds right to me, that humor is an important part of being human. I have been giving several talks over and over to rotating groups in the camp for seniors called Isabella freedman. One of the topics is humor in Judaism. And the ideas seem to resonate for the people. Humor seems to be to be a Jewish value and an important Jewish need.

The librarian in the YU library always seems to have very excited phone conversations. It's kind of funny that she's the librarian and she's screaming "OK, OK, OK" into the phone and then slamming it down. Meanwhile the young married girl next to me is listening to messages on her cell, as the woman on my right is arranging for her husband to pick up the kids. I love the library.