Columns

At a time when I thought it obvious that nothing else matters like “who shall live and who shall die” — at a time like Rosh Hashanah — I learned that “nothing else matters” means something else to Steve Bannon and to the Jewish attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel.

“Kids these days,” goes the age-old lament of the elderly, “are not what they used to be — not as independent, not as disciplined, not as thoughtful.” That lament aligns with the age-old Jewish concept of yeridat hadorot: the idea that each generation is inferior to the one that came before.

As the sacred days of Rosh Hashanah approach, there’s a perceptible change in the air. Once the Jerusalem breeze begins lingering, I can almost smell the approaching Days of Awe. Snippets of the selichot penitential prayers and the wail of the shofar are carried by this breeze.

One would think that the antidote to a sabotage of the economy and power of the US is a heavy dose of truth-telling, but the Democratic party in this election cycle went the opposite direction. The “Big Lie” left amplifies socialism, class warfare and crass bigotry via the megaphones of Democratic candidates and progressive initiatives across the nation and here in Colorado.

“She will never meet a survivor of Auschwitz.” On a recent visit to Denver with my one-year old daughter, I hoped to bring her to meet Cantor Zachary Kutner. A few months back, his son advised me to be in touch upon arriving in Denver. When I did so, he responded, “Dad has taken ill recently and unfortunately, we can’t have visitors now. Please G-d we will schedule with you next time.”

This year, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 converges with the onset of Rosh Hashanah.What are the odds that marking 25 years, a quarter of a century — a number considered symbolic in marking a generation, and in America’s 250th anniversary year to boot — Rosh Hashanah and 9/11 would be interwoven.

The day before Cantor Zachary Kutner’s funeral, I happened to be speaking with Rabbi Tzvi Steinberg, formerly of Zera Abraham, who lives on the East Coast.

Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the esteemed Ponovitcher rov, was asked why Jewish law states that one must leave a cemetery by a different route than the way one came. He responded, “Can any thinking person leave a cemetery the same as when he came?”

This summer, I have a distinct playlist, but unfortunately it is hardly sunny and carefree. Thanks to annual exams, a thorough mammography technician, and an attentive radiologist, my breast cancer was detected early.

A hot topic of debate these days is defining anti-Semitism — almost to the point where the definition is discussed more than the actual anti-Semitism. At the Boulder Valley School District hearing this month some people spent more time decrying the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism than they did expressing concern that children were physically harassed and bullied because they were Jewish.