All articles filed in Reflection

So here’s the plotline.  Five young men and women – all orphaned – wake up in a room unlike any other.  Staircases that go long distances to nowhere.  And a red food machine that will only dispense nutrients if the teenagers perform specific gestures. Forget Hunger Games or Twilight or any of the other dystopian…

Teri Conroy is a very good friend of mine, she operates a hobby farm in Altamont that is home to more than a dozen llamas (along with chickens and an alpaca).  With homage to her previous life as a writer of children’s books, she named the farm Wunsapana Farm.  Say it five times fast, you’ll…

Six years ago, twenty young children finished their breakfasts, kissed their parents goodbye, and went to school. By the end of that day, twenty young children would never see their loved ones again. Because today is the horrible anniversary, six years ago, of one of the deadliest and most horrific mass shootings in American history…

Somewhere in the inky night between sleep, slumber and somnolence, I had a dream.  And although we all say we remember every part of every dream … in this case, I could only remember fragments.  Unconnected, dissonant fragments – something about listening to the radio, and hearing George Harrison playing a song called “Pakistan Blues.”…

Pastor Charlie Muller has achieved so much in his quest to make the Capital Region a better place.  And this year, he needs your help. See, Pastor Muller has taken care of many young people over the years, those who have survived abusive home lives, or who need to find a better home than the…

אבל: יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא. [קהל: אמן] בְּעָלְמָא דִּי בְרָא כִרְעוּתֵהּ וְיַמְלִיךְ מַלְכוּתֵהּ בְּחַיֵּיכון וּבְיומֵיכון וּבְחַיֵּי דְכָל בֵּית יִשרָאֵל בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן: [קהל: אמן] קהל ואבל: יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְמֵי עָלְמַיָּא: אבל: יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרומַם וְיִתְנַשּא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל שְׁמֵהּ דְּקֻדְשָׁא. בְּרִיךְ הוּא. [קהל: בריך הוא:] לְעֵלָּא מִן כָּל בִּרְכָתָא בעשי”ת: לְעֵלָּא לְעֵלָּא מִכָּל וְשִׁירָתָא תֻּשְׁבְּחָתָא וְנֶחֱמָתָא דַּאֲמִירָן…