Ripple in Still Water

          I am always amazed at how three days can be so exhausting: the first two days of Pesach and then Shabbat, three days of praying, eating and taking walks.  Now we have a couple of days until the last days of the Pesach which are also a Yom Tov. No, there are no more seders to prepare for, rather just Pesach food. One of the additions we make to the liturgy is the same addition we make when it is Rosh Chodesh and when we say Birkat HaMazon. We add the prayer Ya'Aleh v' Yavo . Throughout the prayer, the word V'Zichron appears throughout. Other forms of ZaChaR also appear including Zichroneinu and Zacharnu. Throughout the prayer, ask God to remember us. A few nights ago, when we sat at the Seder table, the Hagaddah reminded us to see ourselves as if we were slaves and we were the ones leaving Egypt. Well, in the narrative of Yetziat Mitzrayim,  we are told that God heard the cries of Bnei Yisroel and remembered his covenant with the patriarchs....

          My sister lives in New York with her husband and their ten-year-old daughter on the Upper West Side near Central Park. Normally, we speak maybe once a week. Yesterday was my sister and brother- in-law's anniversary.  After I wished her a "Happy Anniversary", I joked asking her if she and her husband went to some fancy kosher restaurant. Obviously, the answer was "no". She cooked dinner. I asked her if it is as really bad in New York as it appears on the news. She said it is probably worse. She knows many people who have the Covid-19 virus. She mentioned that a hospital was recently put up in Central Park. They work hard to keep things as normal as possible for their daughter amid what my sister describes as like living in a Third World country. Then she started telling me about the various moments of kindness that she has seen and experienced.  The moments she told me about were not necessarily moments that she had experienced personally, the...

          I woke up this morning, Oy, am I sore!  For some reason, I am acutely aware of how sore I am while I say the morning blessing: Baruch Atah Adoshem Elokeinu Melech Ha'Olam Zokeif Kefufim. Blessed Are You Lord Our God, King of the Universe Who straightens the bent . While I am sure there is a spiritual component to this praise of God; right now my legs and my back are sore and straighten out is currently an adventure. No, I haven't started bringing up the Pesach dishes, pots and pans. Yesterday, the weather was far too nice. It seems that everyone was out walking, staying away from each other but walking. Our son, who hasn't really been outside at all, even asked to go outside. He asked me to move the cars off the driveway so that we could shoot baskets.  I happily agreed. Well, shooting baskets quickly became a game of 1 on 1 game up to 7. Well, I made him work for every basket, there was nothing easy. but 15-year-old legs jump a little highe...

              We are only on day 8 of this new reality. Thankfully we are all healthy, yet as we live with social distancing; it seems like this has been going on for weeks. While we were watching the news, my wife innocently asked how long do I think this will continue. I think that this will continue through the summer and into the fall.  I'm the one in the family that "prepares for the worst and hopes for the best".  Our kids asked me if they thought they would be back in school. I told them that colleges and universities have started to cancel their graduation ceremonies. No, they aren't returning to school. I suggested that they prepare for the possibility of no summer camp.  Needless I didn't win any popularity contests. I can't watch the news without wincing at the numbers when we watch the news, It is hard not to wince when we hear about the impending shortages of masks, gowns, and ventilators. With my sister and her family in Ne...

          In our home,  I usually am the one who wakes up first.  Typically, I try to be incredibly quiet so as not to wake my wife.  For approximately 30-45 minutes, the house is normally, quiet. I can turn on the news show that I enjoy. For a few minutes, no one needs me to do "this, that or the other thing." So this morning, I quietly get out of bed, I descend the stairs and there is a light on in our family room already. There's my wife, on the sofa, with her computer, trying to master various computer programs that are designed to facilitate her conducting and "on line" kindergarten class.  She couldn't sleep. She had been up for hours. "I guess I am a bit anxious" she smiled through her worried eyes. I know that the anxiety will lead to her being tired later today. I thought about all those upon who we rely, who we cannot afford to become tired. I thought about health care workers, lab clinicians, farmworkers, those who are going manufa...