Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

We reached a new milestone in parenting this week when our oldest child, Shalom, departed for Eretz Yisrael for the year to learn in yeshivah. On Sunday, the day of his flight, we came in from camp to Monsey to take care of all the last-minute things.

It’s been noted that parents who only have one child don’t have the complete parenting experience. That’s because when something is broken, they easily know who did it. Those who have multiple children, however, get to deal with multiple blank angelic looks and innocent replies of “It wasn’t me,” and have no way of knowing what really happened.

This past spring, our son Avi’s Pirchei baseball team made it to the championship. The final game was played in Boulder Stadium, a ten-minute drive from our home. Boulder Stadium is the equivalent of a minor league stadium, with a beautiful, manicured field, a couple of concession stands, a massive sound system, and the capacity to hold a few thousand fans.

One day last week, my neck was feeling extremely stiff, and it hurt to turn my head in either direction. For the rest of the day, I was mindful to not turn my head too quickly. When I needed to turn my head, I braced myself for a surge of pain. But during the night, when movement is unconscious, I woke up in tremendous pain and couldn’t fall back to sleep for some time.

During a speech he gave at a sheva brachos, Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, noted that he had seen a cereal box that had on its cover a picture of an athlete eating that cereal. Rav Berenbaum related that he had three questions on the advertisement. First of all, even though the athlete was holding a bowl of that cereal, who is to say that he even likes the cereal? He may detest the cereal but is being paid to pose that way. Secondly, even if he does like the cereal, who is to say that just because he likes it, I’ll like it, too? Finally, he’s famous because he can play ball well. What does that have to do with knowing if a cereal is good or not?

One day last week, my neck was feeling extremely stiff, and it hurt to turn my head in either direction. For the rest of the day, I was mindful to not turn my head too quickly. When I needed to turn my head, I braced myself for a surge of pain. But during the night, when movement is unconscious, I woke up in tremendous pain and couldn’t fall back to sleep for some time.