Pursuit for Equality in a Democracy

Where is heaven? Some people think it is between the sky and stars.   Others haven’t a clue.    Isn’t heaven all around us?     The feeling of a first kiss.   Moonlight walks.    Holding hands on the beach.   A bite of your grandmother’s matza brie.    Or eating your favorite treat.      Heaven is your departed father’s advice.   Coming to you in a dream.    Heaven is gazing at the winter moon.   Where your son remarks   “I hope Poppy Bernie and Grandma Yvette are okay.”      Heaven is all around us.   Up in the sky.   Here on the ground.    In our hearts and a summer breeze.     Heaven is embedded in our souls.    To carry the memories.    Of family, friends, and loved ones.   Who touched our lives.    And made an impression.     Taught us valuable lessons.   So, we can pass those stories on.  ...

Every past love that is lost. Through arguments and tears.    Leads to dreams and promises.   That are now gone with the howl of the wind.   And replaced with bricks built around our hearts.      Years go by and the calendar rapidly turns.    Those bricks now have built a wall.    Which keeps out the hurt and the pain.    Where loneliness gets mistaken for protection.      Thinking that all hope of happiness is lost.   A new love comes along.    Where each kiss takes a brick down.    Holding hands during a sunset stroll   Takes a brick down.    Laying in each other’s arms.   As the nightly waves crash on the shore.   Takes a brick down.      Once the bricks are down.   A light comes shining through.   Which warms your whole body.   Starting with your heart.    Your mind is open to new possibilities.   To a happines...

The loneliness that encased my heart. Has dissipated through your warm embrace.    Several years I have spent in the dark.   Thinking that true love.   Would be a farse.      For the years had gone by.   Now a middle-aged man.   Feeling more like an elder who is falling apart.    Satisfied with hearing my youngest son’s.   And granddaughter’s laughter.      Now you have come along.   Your eyes as bright as a star’s light.    Turning back my clock.   With each gentle kiss.    My heart is now whole.   To the future we’ll go!

One Day at a Time.   For the Rest of Our Lives.    I will share my spoon.   As we eat ice cream on the couch.     One day at a time.    For the rest of our lives.    I promise to hold your hand.    On sunset strolls on the beach.    Or walking down the street.      One day at a time.    For the rest of our lives.   I promise that you can push the cart.   Whether we are at Publix or a village shop.      One day at a time.   For the rest of our lives.    I will lend an ear.    When you need to talk.   Or give you, my shoulder.   When your blue eyes well up with tears.      One day at a time.   For the rest of our lives.    I will treat you with kindness.    And the respect you deserve.      For you stole my heart.    From the moment we met.    As you greeted me w...

  It was an early March Day in Michigan.   Giggles, laughter, and learning could be heard.   Throughout the hallways of the Hebrew school.   In a synagogue north of Detroit.      Darkness and evil filled the air.   As a man tried his best to cause harm and pain in there.    But G-d’s light shone through.   The angels prevented the unthinkable.   And all the children went home.     But that is not the case for all.    Children taken from their homes and schools.   Armed men.   With no soul.    Snatching one after the other.     Symbols of their hate left behind.    A ski cap here. A backpack there.    Those children are not home.      Neither are the ones.    Whom the angels escorted to heaven.    Victims of the horrors of war and disease.   Throughout G-d’s planet.      Those who have decided.   To h...

  My long-time therapist asked me during our last session this week what I thought of Trump and Netanyahu initiating the war with Iran the weekend prior. I have had the same therapist for the last six and a half years. She told me that I am one of the few people whom she values opinions on political and world issues. My therapist was a little surprised at my response assuming that I would be supportive being that Iran has been the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah’s terror attacks against Israel. This led me to the question of should American Jews, especially liberal ones, support this war?   As with anything that involves President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, nothing is cut and dry. No one is upset that the Ayatollah and his top lieutenants and advisors are deceased, but the question must be asked, “Why Now?” According to our own intelligence agencies and others, Iran was nowhere near to having a functional nuclear weapon, despite the claims of Trump and Netanyahu. Videos...