Festival of Light (Bulb Jokes), #1

How many Orthodox Jews does it take to change a light bulb?
Ask your rabbi.

Festival of Light (Bulb Jokes), #2

How many Conservative Jews does it take to change a lightbulb?
Only one, but it takes three years.

[Note: If you don't get this joke, Google the following words: triennial cycle Conservative Judaism.]

Festival of Light (Bulb Jokes), #3

How many Reform Jews does it take to change a lightbulb?
We believe that light can be experienced in many ways,
and that the bulbs themselves are no longer necessary. However,
if you find the lightbulb personally meaningful, you may
change it yourself.

Festival of Light (Bulb Jokes), #4

How many Reconstructionist Jews does it take to change a lightbulb?
We reject this medieval prejudice against the dark.

It's a Wonderful Life (Reprise).

For the holiday season, a reprise of my first post.

The Dove.

Over dinner with friends the other night, I was reminded of this 1968 parody of Ingmar Bergman's films. Enjoy, courtesy of google video (and my wife, who forwarded to me the link).

Spam of the day.

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Thought for the day.

"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."
-- Henry Kissinger

Kinda makes you think, huh?

About six months ago, in my little neck of the woods, gas sold for about $3.50 per gallon, and I could buy tomatoes for about $1.50 per pound. Right now, gas sells for $1.50 a gallon, and tomatoes cost $3.50 per pound. So I suppose higher fuel costs don't always drive higher produce costs.

Overheard Conversation.

Earlier today, in a campus coffeehouse:

Young woman to young man: How was your concert Saturday night?
Young man to young woman: It was really cool. Benny Golson sat in with us.
Young woman to young man: Who's that?

And so America's greatest cultural contribution to the world, jazz, continues on, invisible.

After the young woman left, the young man and I were both waiting for our coffees, and I started an ``I couldn't help overhearing...'' conversation with him. Clearly, playing with Golson was a major high point in his life so far.

Strange Correlation.

If you earn $25,000 per year you're most likely poor, if you earn one dollar per year you're most likely extremely wealthy.

How the Attack on a Chabad House Hits Home.

First of all, let me note what should be an obvious point: It is an atrocity whenever and wherever noncombatants are deliberately targeted for torture or murder simply to promote political, religious, or national agendas. Whether in Mumbai, Pakistan, Congo, Rwanda, Baghdad, New York City, Oklahoma City, or Jerusalem.

So when I also note that the attack on a Chabad center hit home for me I do not mean to diminish in any way the devastating sufferings of so many others.

But indeed, the attack on the Mumbai Chabad House did hit close to home, for me.

Anyone, such as myself, who has to occasionally travel for professional reasons to various out-of-the-way places, and who also is a Shomer Shabbos (Sabbath Observant) Jew, knows to seek out the nearest Chabad house for stay over Shabbos (Sabbath). I have on several occasions enjoyed the wonderful, open, hospitality of Chabad Rabbis and their families, who have made space for me in their homes and at their dinner tables.

Frankly, I have felt more at home, and spiritually refreshed, enjoying Shabbos in a Chabad house with people I've only known a few hours than I've sometimes felt in the company and homes of people I've known for decades.

And for those who have enjoyed Chabad's hospitality, it comes as no surprise that the Mumbai Chabad Rabbi and his wife, Rabbi Gavriel & Mrs. Rivkah Holtzberg (may their memories be for a blessing), were kind, lovely, beautiful, people.

Moreover, in the US, while so many Jews wring their hands over the assimilation and imminent disappearance of the American Jewish Community, the Chabad movement has actually accomplished something: They have brought thousands of Jews back to their culture and faith. Chabad accomplishes this through their warmth and the simplicity of their direct spirituality.

Chabad is, in fact, an acronym: Chachma (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Da'as (Knowledge).

To attack a Chabad house in India is to attack Jews simply for being Jewish. To attack the very idea that Jews have a right to live.