Yesterday we spent a wonderful day touring in Quito with a young guide named David. It was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish as...

“TWO PUPPIES? I thought Togo was your last dog,” my friend Jan texted after I sent her a photo. Indeed, for years Irv said Togo would be...

My body is telling me it’s aging: My left knee is creaky. My right shoulder clicks. My toes cross over each other. I am wearing hearing...

(I am sharing this letter with Irv’s permission) Dear Irv, Happy anniversary!  I can’t believe it’s been 51 years since we stood in front...

Last week, the week of my birthday and a long-awaited visit from my son, I anticipated joy. Instead, I experienced the pain of losing...

“How did you do on your math test?” my father asked as I opened the front door and stepped into the living room after school. “I got a...

I am not a patient person. It is the middah (soul trait) that I find most challenging. Despite a decade of practicing Mussar, I still...

I was preparing a Passover seder for 20 guests, and my granddaughter, Selam, asked if she could spend the night to help. Although she is...

April 20, 1999. It’s late morning and I’m sitting at my computer in the Communications Services Office of Jeffco Schools when the first...

Last week, as I sat with Irv in Denver’s darkened Boettcher Concert Hall, the sounds of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony washed over me...

When I was growing up, Passover and the traditional seder meal were a big deal. Twenty-four hours before Passover began, Mom “hid” small...

It was the third anniversary of my mom’s death. That night I attended a memorial service for my friend Leah’s mother, who had died...

How could I celebrate my grandkids’ birthdays in ways that were meaningful? My friend Fran had shared that she gave her grandchildren a...

“Who is wise? He who learns from all men,” Ben Zoma, 1st century Jewish sage Name four types of sheep. What are male and female rabbits...

“Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.” Plutarch Driving to our gourmet club up the long, narrow, icy road,...

It was a rare gift, an unscheduled Friday, nothing on the calendar until the evening potluck at Beth Evergreen. Set to lead the Mussar...

I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago. After all, I didn’t need to come up with new ones; I just recycled my previous broken...

“Life is lumpy.  A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn...

In my writing group, we pick a monthly prompt and write about the topic for 10 minutes. This month the topic was “Life Lessons from...

“Awareness of one’s true value is the essential aspect of life itself and the essential measure of growth for every person who walks the...