Lifeboats. Summer. Bridges. Helpers.

The rapid succession of a toddler-drunk-on-power messes is overwhelming.

I’m exhausted by the sheer number of (what seem to me) reprehensible acts.

My country is sickening me.

federal agents shooting at (and killing) civilians
actions against immigrants, federal workers, the environment, reproductive rights
invading a sovereign nation and abducting its leader
pardoning people who committed reprehensible acts
terrorizing Brown-skinned people
terrorizing transfolk
Black Lives Matter, but don’t

All of these things.

Hate is spreading.

And hope is faint.

These are gut-punch times.

✧✧✧

Then we all have our personal shit shows.

My heart is breaking as I watch a loved one disappear.

Alzheimer’s is slowly (and quickly) taking her cogency and her memories and unraveling her.

(Fuck.)

✧✧✧

I’m looking for comfort.

Always.
And, in all ways.

The following four quotes might comfort.

(After each quote I present will be my thinking about it)

✧✧✧

Voltaire’s lifeboat voluntary band

Comptez que le monde est un grand naufrage, et que la devise des hommes est, sauve qui peut.

Life is a shipwreck.
Save yourself if you can.
Do not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

✧✧✧

Honestly?
Singing in lifeboats feels too upbeat today.

✧✧✧

Flash Bang

February 6, 2026 No Comments

I am standing in Kenya, with my left foot in the Northern Hemisphere and my right foot in the Southern. A line on the ground indicates the equator. Young men—asking for nothing, but hoping for tips—entertain and educate tourists, like me, about the Coriolis effect. They pour water into bowls with small holes at the bottom and let the water

Stuff Gets To Me

March 6, 2026

✧✧✧ As I pack up to leave after my workout, someone asks me, “Hey, Rabbi, how are things going?” I’m not one for small talk. Especially after being called by my title. “Well,” I reply. “I’m sad.” “Why?” “I’m thinking about the girls who went to school in the morning in Minab, Iran—over a hundred of them—killed by a bomb.”

My Letter to Habakkuk

February 26, 2026

✧✧✧ To my dearest pen pal, Habbakuk: First, let me say, no one remembers the prophets who did not deliver on the goods. Your predictions came true. And, 2500+ years later, you are still remembered. Do you remember Lenny, that guy? Kept going around Judea telling people “the goats will lay down in green pastures,” and, then, remember? It started