Stories of Growth

Following high school graduation, I set off for Israel, Birkenstocks and Bob Marley t-shirt in tow. I found an apartment in the center of Jerusalem, and waited for something to happen.

Moses and Jean Valjean: the connection

I found myself questioning the one thing I had always depended on—my Jewish faith...

My father gave me a huge hug and kiss like only he could, and then we walked out to the parking lot. As he began driving, my father told me how proud he was of me for playing so well. What he said next taught me a life lesson that I have never forgotten . . .

“So, what then? We should sit back, do nothing . . . and watch him slowly kill himself?” “No. I’m just saying maybe there’s a better way to reach him . . .”

What did that mean, “discarding expectations”? Every situation results in some sort of outcome; positive or negative, we have to expect that something is going to happen. Besides, I was always taught that expectations can play a key role in life—expect good things, and they’ll happen for you; expect bad things, and they’ll definitely happen to you. How does someone approach life with no expectations at all?

My grandfather kissed my cheeks and said, "Morty, every morning when you wake up, I want you to look at the mirror and strike your heart three times. While you are striking your heart, recite, 'I was born a Jew; I was raised a Jew; and I will die a Jew.'"

Despite his age (late adolescence being a time of presumed invincibility) and his size (he was a big guy), my brother began to become fearful. Dusk was rapidly approaching...

It's clear that this is the swearing-in ceremony concluding basic training for these boys. I was across the ocean when my own son received his beret and Bible; I can't bring myself to leave now.

Our lives are like the reverse side of a great tapestry. From the back, it all looks random and chaotic: all we can see are the knots, the imperfections, some bumps, smears of color...

The year is the same, the days are the same, but the months are different. It is a time quite individual -- created by G-d, especially for me...

It was the commercial that first attracted me. Then there were the bonus gifts, and by the time my free-trial period was up I'd forgotten that my credit card was being billed monthly...

In prison, you lose your identity. You can't be a thief when you aren't stealing; you can't be a drug dealer when you aren't dealing. You have no status in the underworld and no status in the real world

That his Shabbat prayer was a gift to last all my years, Grandfather could hardly have known. And in the very last moments before my carriage moved, he gave me still another, utterly precious gift...

Leon Friedman was a Holocaust survivor who wrestled with his memories, suffered depression, and what some would call "survivor's guilt." I saw him frequently for one problem or another; sometimes I thought he just wanted to talk...

Radical research was required. I could have been a bit more philanthropic, but I needed a visceral rite of passage, not to mention the brief catharsis destruction provides...

It was back to basics. Actually, it was back to much less than basics. It was back to virtually nothing...

I recently participated in a phone conference connecting 29 people from Israel, Ukraine, France, Alaska, Texas, New York and Solon, Ohio, all the children or children-in-law of a single woman -- my mother

"Daddy," I cried, gulping down the large lump that was forming in my throat. "We don't want your blessing tomorrow. We want it after the surgery, for many years to come!"