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Mixing Apples and oranges (or pomegranates). Readers may think I have been doing just that in these reflections on Advent and Chanukkah. Jews and Christians have distinct faiths and teachings. I firmly believe in ecumenical dialogue. Dialogue, to reach an understanding, not a theological compromise of beliefs. As Trevor Harford, a Christian Bible and Rabbinic…
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Walking from the BarnAt the pasture’s distant edge,Spines of twisted trees, branchesKnitting the waning gray lightfall sky.My breath vapors form cloudsIn the air smelling of snow.Crows, in curved flight, caw Their roosting hour notes,Rising as if released fromSheet music uplifted on wings.Aroused, sniffing in circles,The dog barks at scentsAlong a rutted path, thenFollows me toward…
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A curtain of silence drapes the late autumn and first days of winter. There is a sense of expectation. In the solitude of quiet nights, I find hope and the desire for renewal and deepening of faith in the flickering candlelight. I think of these days and nights of contemplation as an invitation to sit…
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(For Diane and Judy) There is something I forgot;A name, though I still knowMost faces or perhaps a word.I misplace faces, names and wordsPronounced until they vanish, Disappearing in caverns…There are many empty, dark places.Do you remember that early SeptemberBy the lake? We water skiedAnd watched for bears while pickingBerries. On the north shore, geeseGathered…
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All nights become silent and holy,Laved in the candlelight of our prayers,As muted songs of lamentation are sung,Rising as incense in autumn nights’ air.In this place of our lonely exile,Anticipation rises again in our breastsFor a child, to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem,To break the chains of our discontent,To shatter God’s silence, and…
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Cicadas noisily burst into songAnd whirl in their mating danceOn branches of jade-green.In a lonely courtyard I composeA poem of distant yearsTo possess a moment in time.My heart is grieved then lifted by A memory of you in a thin red silkRobe brushing your black hairIn the lamplight of thinning dusk.One thought leads to another.I…
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The Military News this morning contained an article titled “Military Veterans Call Out Trump, Hegseth and Pentagon in New Video.” Rather than post the entire article written by Nick Mordowanec, I am providing a link to their short video. This issue was a matter of personal concern prior to the Trumpian attack on Mark Kelly…
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Wanderers on the Narrow Path In the morning solitude Sunflowers lift their heads Serenely towards the ascending light. I too wander on the narrow path To where the sun descends beyond the Yu Shan Mountains. In the morning solitude Walking Along the Liwu River Gorge Thin mist floats through the fingers of trees,An emerald forest…
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Tomorrow morning, I will be giving the D’var Torah (a sermon) on Genesis chapters 25:19-28:9. I am honored to have been asked. Below is the text. Derasha: Tol’dot, 22 November 2025 The words of the Torah are like fragments of colored glass pieced together to create a stained-glass window of lives lived and events through…
Charles van Heck's Woodhull Journal 