This week has been an overwhelming week for the Jewish people. From the devastation and anguish of witnessing the most horrific attack on our people since the Holocaust, to seeing so many around the world celebrate the pain of our…
I like to travel with an entourage. It is not fitting for a man of my stature to be traveling alone, I need at least a few million followers wherever I go. The good news is that I usually get…
In a field in Ecuador, mountains of bananas lie rotting in the sun. They are a bit smaller than the average banana, and because of that, no supermarket will buy them. They could be turned into baby food, babies generally…
The Eurasian tree sparrow, according to Wikipedia, is a passerine bird in the sparrow family with a rich chestnut crown and nape, and a black patch on each pure white cheek. It reaches a height of about five inches, and weighs in at just under an ounce, keeping…
Taking a walk in the woods can be a pretty mundane activity, but never when you are in Yosemite National Park. In Yosemite, a walk in the woods is a child’s first walk into a candy store. Every bend in…
Construction is never a simple thing. The general rule is to expect projects to take thirty percent longer than scheduled and to cost thirty percent more than budgeted. But a building taking more than 200 years to build is considerably…
We are living in times when the country is quite divided. There seems to be almost nothing we can agree on, the liberals keep getting more liberal, and the Conservatives more Conservative. News sources are split between right wing media…
The beast lumbering by my van’s window had a face as large as a pizza pie, and a body that weighed as much as a small car. Its gait was clumsy and graceful all at once, massive muscular haunches dutifully…
Some states, like California or Texas, seem to have it all; glamour, big business, large populations, beautiful nature, national and international recognition, and lots of things to do. Other states, like Iowa or Idaho, seem to have none of it,…
Thursday Lunch and Learn | Rabbi Leiby Burnham