Good Morning 10-16-26

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

Good Morning 10-15-26

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

Good Morning 10-14-26

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

Good Morning 10-13-26

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

Good Morning 10-12-26

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

Good Morning 10-11-26

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

Good Morning 10-9-26

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

Good Morning 10-8-26

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

Good Morning 10-7-26

Today is the third anniversary of the attack on Israel. In the aftermath of that horrific event, there will be protests and marches in support of the people who perpetrated the attack. These are people who called Israel genocidal the day after more than 1200 innocents were brutally slaughtered and 251 taken hostage. Since that day, we have come to understand more about what happened. The release of Brett McGurk’s book, “Brink,” tells the story about his role as lead American negotiator in every round of hostage talks from October 2023 through January 2025. He was President Biden’s Middle East … Continue reading Good Morning 10-7-26

Good Morning 10-6-26

We have come to live in a world in which the war between the sexes has created a divide greater than anyone could possibly have imagined. There are women on TikTok describing in detail how they left their husband, not because he abused them or cheated or even was an uninvolved father. They left because they were unhappy. Some of these women record themselves trashing men in general. They want to live in a world without men. All this while holding a phone created by men, sitting in a car manufactured by men, and living in a home built by … Continue reading Good Morning 10-6-26