Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

Among the list of things we take for granted is our dishwasher. What a gift to be able to place dirty dishes inside it, push a few buttons to run a cycle, and then open the door to find all the dishes fresh and clean.

Years ago, I heard about a man named Rabbi Meir Shuster, a fixture at the Kosel, who would scan the plaza looking for unaffiliated Jews visiting the Wall. He would approach them and politely ask them if they had the time. When they would reply, he would use that opening to gently engage them and convince them to attend classes about Judaism. It was said that he was the catalyst for bringing countless Jews back to their faith.

The story is told about a poor Jew in Europe who came home one day and told his wife that he wanted to eat blintzes, like the rich people. The wife replied that rich people eat blintzes because they can afford the ingredients.

Before I went to Eretz Yisrael a few months ago, I was reminded a few times to make sure to take along a few outlet adapters. The shape of the outlets in Eretz Yisrael is different from the shape of our outlets, and an American plug will not fit into an Israeli outlet.

To be a father entails fulfilling many roles. One of the most important of those unstated tasks is to be the family “opener.” During the summer months, it means opening your children’s ice pops. As any parent knows, that’s no easy feat. Some parents try to use a knife to cut off the top, which sometimes works but often doesn’t. Eventually, most fathers get frustrated and just bite off the top. If he’s not careful, he ends up with some splotches of the ices on his shirt. This is especially annoying on Shabbos, when he is wearing a white shirt and for the rest of the day everyone will know what kind of ices he had. Then there’s always that gnawing question of whether he should say a brachah before biting off the top. He doesn’t really want to eat it, but he did taste it.

One morning recently, I was standing in shul, davening, when I noticed the open siddur of the fellow sitting in front of me. It was open to the prayer of Ahavah Rabbah, recited prior to Sh’ma. It caught my eye because some of the words were highlighted: “Place in our hearts to understand and to discern, to hear, to learn, to teach, to safeguard, to perform, and to fulfill all the words of Your Torah with love.”