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I used to keep a diary, I still do, but it’s been all but replaced by this blog. I can’t tell you exactly what compels me to write on this space. I’ve asked others to share why they write, but like life itself, blogging is different for every person.

I wonder how much interest there could possibly be when I recap my week (except for on the part of my parents – they should live and be well). Honestly, my diary was never a listing or where I went or what I did – it was all feelings all the time. But here in this web I am self-conscious, careful.

Mirty once said that I reveal more than I may realize, through Torah and poetry. The image of that slide from second grade keeps coming to mind – the slide I was afraid to slide down if I climbed up the ladder, but not f I climbed up the slide itself (it suddenly comes back to me that I felt the need to put on a jacket like a cape, and sit Indian style – not sure of the relevance.) Anyway, Mirty’s smart.

If I read the stats correctly (and I’m not sure I do) then I average between 60 and 100 hits a day. Comments are not reflective of how many people are visiting (just as visiting is not necessarily reflective of reading). Esther of My Urban Kvetch told me this long ago. She is wise. (Visit her My Urban Kvetch for the full text of Steve Martin’s Wish List For The Holidays, in which he hopes to see all children hold hands and sing in harmony, among other things).

Shabbos was wonderful. Words can’t do it justice.

I heard a beautiful thought from Pinny Bulman about how Yaakov’s encounter with The Divine comes in the middle of a journey. From here he took the lesson that we often expect epiphanies and revelations at beginnings and ends, but this is often a mistake. More often than we expect it, holiness comes in the middle of the journey.

Rabbi Aaron Levitt spoke, based on the above cited episode, about how sometimes in life we feel that we are not in a spiritual place, and then we experience G-d when we least expect it.

Many years ago I heard Rabbi Chananya Berzon speak about Lavan’s declaration that Yaakov had stolen his gods. He applied this to life, how people can have their values stolen all too easily.

Every day as a teacher is a rich day. This past week was particularly rich. I danced at a sheva brachot on Wednesday and rapped at a pep rally on Thursday.

I visited an English class as Holden Caulfield and recited a chapter in character, then I took questions – first as Holden and then as me. This filled a whole period and the teacher told me the next day how he could see through their writing how the students developed a deeper understanding of the book through my presentation.

The period that I spoke as Holden was during a slot when I usually teach, but on Wednesday I don’t. There’s also an optional meeting during that time that I’ve been participating in for 11 years (poo, poo, poo). The latest incarnation of the meeting includes having certain teachers share a shiur with the rest of us. This week an old neighbor, colleague, and friend presented. I wanted to go, but the prior commitment to the English class won out.

On Tuesday a student asked me about different denominations and levels and how to judge what’s right. We had a nice discussion in class after accomplishing a set amount of on book learning. The discussion boiled over to after class when I sat for a whole period with 2 students talking about adolescence and prayer and so much more.

There was a Talmud test this week. We went over and over the material. I hope they did well. Tears were shed over this one.


Quote of the Day

I believe that the test of a truly great man is his humility.
I do not mean by humility doubt of his own power.
But really great men have a curious feeling
that the greatness is not in them but through them.
And they see something divine in every other man,
and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful
- John Ruskin