Recipe For A Balanced Diet

 

Ingredients:

   body/soul

   heart/mind

   thoughts/feelings

Directions:

   mix in equal measure

   share well

   do not refrigerate

 

 

 

 

Tribes

 

I always wanted to be an Indian.

Until my early twenties.

That's when I realized

I would never be an Indian.

I was born a Jew.

So I became a Jew.

 

 

 

 

 

Directions To Heaven

 

Take the tunnel,

Head for the light.

 

 

 

 

 

The Survivor

 

I see him everyday

At the morning minyan,

A survivor of the Shoah,

The Holocaust.

We talk occasionally.

He has a good sense of humor.

I wish I had his Jewish knowledge

Of text and ritual,

That I could lead the prayers,

With the different tropes,

Read from the Torah,

Chant the Hallel and the Megillah.

He does it faster and better

Than anybody there.

But this morning he announced:

"I will not say kaddish this week.

My parents were murdered

In the Shoah this week.

Do not call on me to pray!"

The rabbi is disturbed.

"The kaddish does not speak of death," he said,

explaining what did not need to be explained.

"We cannot understand God.  Nevertheless,

we magnify and sanctify God's holy name."

"This week," the survivor declared,

"I cannot, I will not magnify or sanctify God's name!"

The rabbi is upset.

But I don't think God was upset.

I think God understood.

In fact, I don't think God said kaddish either this week,

or during the Shoah.

The following week, the survivor prayed again.

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe For Fast Relief

 

When things get a bit much,

Have a good cry,

Or a good laugh.

For a quick start,

Peel a grape,

Or an onion.

 

 

 

 

 

Immortality

 

Good books live forever.

"I will write a good book," I decided.

I didn't know about publishers.

They only care about the here and now.  Ha!