\”I knew this could be a good story because so many different things had happened to people,\” said Dan Klores, sounding more like an introvert than a schmoozer. \”You have a group of guys, and one is homeless, one wins a $45 million lottery, two lose their children and one lives without electricity or running water in Woodstock, N.Y.\”
The question is not if we are we safe, but what can each of us do to be safer? The idea is to find the balance between alert and alarmed, between giving in to our fears (and to fear mongers) and giving up.
Through many years of rabbinic traveling and teaching, I\’ve been blessed to serve congregations from Long Island to Maui and from Canada to Australia. I\’ve prayed in shuls from Transylvania to Argentina, and I\’ve discovered that in all the world Juneau\’s community is unique. The fusion of Alaskan life and Jewish tradition never ceases to amaze me.
Gebürtig, Austria\’s entry into the competition for Best Foreign Film in the upcoming Oscar race, is a clever and mostly engaging movie that goes after the big questions: Is the Holocaust best told as documentary or fiction?
Excerpted from \”Common Prayers: Faith, Family and a Christian\’s Journey Through the Jewish Year\” by Harvey Cox. (Houghton Mifflin, $24).
Against the Dying of the Light: A Father\’s Journey through Loss\” by Leonard Fein (Jewish Lights Publishing, $19.95)
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