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Good Morning 10-19-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, aka Nachmanides or the Ramban, is considered one of the greatest medieval personalities in the Jewish world. He was an extraordinary scholar, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator. He was raised and lived in Girona, Spain for most of his life. Toward the end of his life, he was forced to leave Spain (after winning a debate in 1263 against Pablo Christiane, a Jew who converted to Christianity) and relocated to Jerusalem. As a commentator on Torah, the Ramban went beyond explaining the meaning of a passage, verse, or word. He studied the structure of Torah. … Continue reading Good Morning 10-19-26

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Good Morning 10-18-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

Have you seen the headlines? Paris is burning. Throughout France, what started as student protests have erupted into a mass conflagration. As per the usual arrangement, the students are joined by those with their Palestinian flags, calls for government action against the rising cost of living, and Greta Thunberg with her many axes to grind. As of yesterday, there were nationwide marches with hundreds of thousands of participants. Clashes with police resulted in over 1,800 arrests, fires at government buildings (including Limoges City Hall), and looting in cities like Paris, Marseille, and Lyon. It reminds one of then Seattle Mayor … Continue reading Good Morning 10-18-26

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Good Morning 10-16-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

The story of Noah ends like this: “Noah lived after the Flood 350 years. And all the days of Noah came to 950 years, then he died.” Genesis 9:28-29 Chapter 10 of Genesis gives us the genealogy of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It ends by telling us that the descendants of Noah spread out across the earth after the Flood. Then comes the first nine verses of Genesis 11 and the story of the Tower of Babel. Now the entire earth was of one language and uniform words. And it came to pass when they traveled from … Continue reading Good Morning 10-16-26

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Good Morning 10-15-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

The ark landed, the ground dried up, and Noah and his family were finally able to leave what must have been a smelly, disgusting mess. All those animals with no place to “go,” if you get my drift, would have made the most ardent farmer wince. What would they eat when they emerged, before little if any vegetation would be ready and ripe to eat? Noah planned for the future and planted a vineyard. When the fruit of the vine was ripe, Noah took it and made wine. Then he proceeded to get as drunk as a skunk and pass … Continue reading Good Morning 10-15-26

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Good Morning 10-14-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

Edgar Allen Poe’s gothic poem “The Raven” is considered one of his most famous works. Its melancholy verses tell the story of the author’s lost love, Lenore. As he mourns in anguish, a raven flies in his window and perches above the door. Throughout the poem as the author pines for his sweetheart and asks when they might be able to be together again, the raven’s repeated line is “Nevermore.” As the narrator descends into madness over losing his beloved, the raven stands as a stark reminder of her memory. The poem features the paralyzing nature of grief that we … Continue reading Good Morning 10-14-26

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Good Morning 10-13-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

Life is expensive. That shouldn’t be earth-shaking news to anyone reading this. We spend our entire adult lives working to earn enough money to . . . what? Earn enough to survive? Earn enough to live? What are we working so hard at? And what do we mean when we say, “enough.” As if grocery and gas prices weren’t bad enough, we recently had major repairs done on our car. We were told by our mechanic some time ago that we needed to replace the struts — I think that’s what Steve said. He tried to explain to me why … Continue reading Good Morning 10-13-26

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Good Morning 10-12-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

There were once two old Jewish friends, who would meet in the park each afternoon, sit on a bench, and argue. They argued about everything under the sun: the state of the world, Israel, politics, even significant issues like levels of observance in Judaism. One of the guys was a complete optimist. He saw only the best in everything and everyone. If the weather was poor, he predicted sun. If it was warm, he said it would rain. His faith in God and mankind was eternally positive which was one of the reasons he and his friend had so many … Continue reading Good Morning 10-12-26

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Good Morning 10-11-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

I admit to being a bit of a math nerd. I love statistics. I like spreadsheets with all their formulas that can calculate columns and rows. Heck, when my kids brought home algebra books in junior high school, I sat up and did story problems after they went to bed just for the fun of it. Definitely a math nerd. Not a math whiz by any means, but a nerd for sure. Galileo once said that, “the laws of nature are mathematical.” He’s absolutely right. Think about the symmetry of a sunflower or, the fact that limes come with 8 … Continue reading Good Morning 10-11-26

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Good Morning 10-9-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

The Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, famously responded to people who wrote to him about their problems. His thousands of letters over the years have been catalogued in books. In one such letter, the Rebbe responded to a man who complained habitually about nearly everything in life. The Rebbe’s reply was recorded in the “Igrot Kodesh” or “Holy Epistles.” He said: “In the world in which we live, everything contains a mixture of good and evil. A person must choose which of the two aspects he wishes to emphasize, contemplate, and pursue … How instructive is what our sages tell us … Continue reading Good Morning 10-9-26

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Good Morning 10-8-26

I Am My Father's Daughter

There was a little old lady who was nearly blind, and she had three sons who wanted to prove to her which one was the best. The eldest son bought her a 15-room mansion, thinking this would surely be the best that any of them could offer her. The second son bought her a beautiful Rolls Royce with a chauffeur included, thinking this would surely win her approval. The youngest son had to do something even better, so he bought her a parrot that had been trained for 15 years to memorize the entire Bible. You could ask the parrot … Continue reading Good Morning 10-8-26