After an October windstorm a few years ago knocked out our power for over a week, Leah and I bought a generator. In the three years since we made that purchase, we’ve put over 100 hours on that generator. I’ve never lost power quite as much in my life as we have since moving to
Many of us watched a video in which a police officer knelt on a man’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. We watched a man cry out for his dead mother. He was murdered. Say his name. George Floyd. Before I left the Guard, I had the opportunity to mentor a delightful young soldier
I have a large number of conservative, evangelical friends. more so than the average Jew. Most of this has to do with living outside of the Five Boroughs, in smaller Jewish communities with a greater presence of religious Christians, and some of it has to do with my lengthy military service. Watching the disagreement over
In Jewish Law, issur yichud (איסור ייחוד) is the prohibition of a man and a woman who are not married to one another being secluded together. I follow that in the same way I try and keep all of the mitzvot. It’s not because my wife demands it or I’m afraid of extramarital affairs. It’s
From time to time, certain realities punch me in the face. A recent Tweet by Tom Nichols this week caused a firestorm for a variety of reasons. It didn’t upset me so much as it did others; in many ways I think Tom Nichols is an admirable and very smart dude, and in the age
Yesterday, and I will not identify my unit because I don’t want to make this specifically about my chain of command, our company commander asked our first formation what anniversary falls on May the 4th. Given our upcoming training, an internal groan started in the pit of my stomach as I realized where this was
In the 19th century, textile workers afraid of machines replacing their role in their industry started destroying mechanical equipment as a form of protest. Now, they weren’t, as many people believe, opposed to technological advancement, but they were highly concerned about their diminishing role in the future of their work. Today, we do associate that
I was a little despondent when Nick Isgro was elected to be the Maine GOP’s vice chairman last week. I don’t know him personally, so I can’t say whether I like or dislike him, but I’m troubled any time someone with a profoundly milquetoast resume waxes “tough guy” on social media using a lexicon enjoyed
Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn’t give up, Ben; she’s still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her. She’s a father working while cancer eats away his insides, to bring home one more pay check. She’s a twelve-year-old trying to mother her brothers and sisters because mama had to
I cannot say enough that don’t like the nativist streak within the Republican Party. Some if it is absolutely racist, playing on the notion that the swarthy peoples from southern lands are coming here not for a better life, but to join MS-13, rape our husbands, and addict our kittens to drugs. It’s a reality/fact
Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, soon-to-be-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.
