Ripple in Still Water

          We went to a wedding yesterday. Well, not exactly. We huddled around my wife's computer and attended a zoom wedding. With two phone cameras on tripods one under the chuppah and one six feet away, we watched on split-screen while a friend officiated the weddings and the young couple performed the rituals beneath the chuppah. One set of parents stood on a neighbor's lawn and the other set of parents stood on the other neighbor's lawn. The couple was beaming. She circled him, they drank from two cups of wine, he placed the ring on her finger, he broke the glass and everyone watching screamed mazal tov. I know.  some are wondering how a wedding took place during the Sefirat Ha'Omer, during the counting of the Omer (The Counting of The Omer) when customarily this sad period of time is marked by NOT conducting weddings. Because Pesach just concluded last Thursday night and we are still in the Hebrew month of Nisan (until this Friday and this Shabbat); w...

          Normally, I don't enjoy the Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of a holiday, Pesach and Sukkot.  Usually, my wife will usually want us to go out on a family outing, to participate in a "family activity", to "explore" another neighborhood in Toronto. I usually want to do nothing, take care of whatever food shopping that we need to do as we head in towards the final days of the Chag. When our children were younger,  I had few allies since they welcomed my wife's idea and request with great enthusiasm. As our children grew older, I had more allies in my desire to do nothing. Our kids greeted their mother's request with an eye roll and a desire to hang out with friends. Well, this year is different.  Our family activity was to watch a movie. The other family activity was encouraging our teenagers to get some fresh air.  The other family activity has been to watch our children stand 6 feet apart on our driveway and sidewalk with their fr...

          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....

          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...