I know that 40 feels like a big number. I'm not there yet. But I've been anticipating 39 for a long time. Ronen was born at 39 weeks. He lived for 39 days. He died at 4:39 PM on 9/29, when Bob was 39 years old. Psalm 39 ends: הָשַׁ֣ע מִמֶּ֣נִּי וְאַבְלִ֑יגָה בְּטֶ֖רֶם אֵלֵ֣ךְ וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃ (Ps. 39:14) Translations of the third word, ve'avligah, vary widely: NJPS: Look away from me, that I may recover, before I pass away and am gone. (JPS adds, to the highlighted phrase, "Meaning of Heb....

Sehnsucht (c. 1900). Heinrich Vogeler / Wikimedia Commons I wrote this piece during the Pesach immediately following Ronen's death, which was also right after COVID locked down the world. I thought I had shared it before, but looks like it's just been sitting on my hard drive for the past six years. But every year the message and the tune of "dayeinu" being so unabashedly perky -- and the number of times I need to sing it as part of preparatory Pesach teaching -- continues to...

Exodus 3-4 brings us the negotiation between God and Moshe, in which Moshe ultimately discovers that he has no choice but to lead. Moshe is famously reluctant to take on this role. More than just protesting on the basis of "heavy of speech," Moshe rebuffs God's continued insistence that he rise to the occasion and lead God's People out of Egypt. SIX times....