It was only about a quarter of the mile up the East Branch Penobscot from the Lunksoos put-in when Atticus and I saw the bull moose. I’ve lived in Alaska and spent many nights in the Adirondack and White Mountains backcountry. I’ve seen moose. On Fort Richardson, Alaska, where I was stationed in the Army,
After a test of my RAV4’s tires and suspension coming down a 4.5 mile stretch of rocks and pits, Amelia and I stood on the perhaps manufactured beach along the Debsconeag Deadwater at Omaha Beach. We were swarmed immediately by Maine’s patent cocktail of black flies and mosquitoes, in spite of our best efforts with
Today is the convergence of Mother’s Day and Lag BaOmer, so it makes for a nice oasis in the midst of the joyless wasteland that is Sefirat HaOmer. I haven’t shaven except for National Guard duty, and though I listen to jazz on the merits of Rabbi Willig’s opinion, I don’t truly enjoy it. It’s
The world presents itself in two ways to me. The world as a thing I own, the world as a mystery I face. What I own is a trifle, what I face is sublime. I am careful not to waste what I own; I must learn not to miss what I face. Rabbi Abaraham Joshua
Pesachim 2a, right from the mishna says, “On the night of the 14th of Nissan, one searches for chametz by candlelight.” This is called bedikas chametz. The rabbis hotly debate the whys and whatfors (and accompanying minutia), but what it comes down to, for me, is a fun but weird way to get my children to
.יַעֲלוּ הָרִים, יֵרְדוּ בְקָעוֹת–אֶל-מְקוֹם, זֶה יָסַדְתָּ לָהֶם The mountains rose, the valleys sank down–unto the place which Thou hadst founded for them from Rosh Chodesh Psalm 104 Psalm 104 is my favorite because it channels all the grandeur of nature and attributes it to G-d. And I found that on a hike on an unseasonably
The only thing that stank about this record dump of snow was the loss of our mailbox. Somewhere, in a drift on Baker Road, is the array of mailboxes belonging to our neighbor and us. My snowblower, which I affectionately refer to as “Black Betty,” easily conquered 32″+ drifts, once I realized the shear pins
A few weeks ago, I cut some recent deadfall on our property to start “seasoning it” in our woodpile. Last night, after Shabbos, I grabbed some wood from the wrong pile for our woodstove, and realized later that my fingers were sticky. I thought it was a cool corollary to Tu B’Shevat, where we know
The gematria for the Hebrew word for snow, שלג (sheleg), is 333, which is the same value of the word שכחה (shich’cha) for forgetfulness. Parents of children out of Maine schools for two, possibly three days, may be worried about forgetfulness when it comes to academics. Some rabbi, and I’m never going to remember the source,
Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, retired soldier, programmer, father, musician, Heeb, living in the woods of Maine with three ladies and a dog. Brian is also a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.
Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, runs joint religious school with our sister congregation, special educator and former school board member, mother to Avi and Nezzie.
