Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

One morning recently, when I walked out of our bungalow in Camp Dora Golding, I noticed that the garbage can that was always there was gone. I called the maintenance director, Effy Lew, to ask if he had perhaps moved it to another location, but he said he knew nothing about it. It was strange for a garbage can to just disappear. Later that day, Effy brought us a new garbage can.

There are certain sayings and mantras that are as part of baseball as the game itself. One of those sayings is “good eye.”

One of the WhatsApp chats I am subscribed to is the daily Torah thoughts of Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir. In her bio, aside from being well known in Israeli media as a reporter, Mrs. Rahav-Meir proudly touts the fact that she is a baalas t’shuvah. She is becoming increasingly popular for her inspirational lessons and perspectives through her lectures and books.

For the last few years, I have been working on producing and publishing a new Siddur. It’s been a long, arduous, and fulfilling process. The Siddur is being thoroughly edited and will hopefully be available in the coming months.

Our family has the wonderful opportunity to spend our summers at Camp Dora Golding in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Among its many outstanding features and qualities, Camp Dora Golding has an unparalleled learning program that it is immensely proud of. Directed by its indefatigable learning director, Rabbi Noach Sauber, who is also a personal rebbi and mentor to our family, there is an unbelievable amount of learning that takes place here.

On Thursday evening, June 12, 2014, Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaar were at the junction of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion, just outside their yeshivah. Like many do, they were hitching a ride so they could spend Shabbos at home. A car with an Israeli license plate pulled over. The driver and front seat passenger were wearing classic Jewish garb and there was well-known Jewish music playing. The unsuspecting boys got in.