Rabbi’s Musings & Amusings

By R' Dani Staum

What an unusual baseball season it has been! In a season that began quite late and had been shortened to 60 games, a couple of games were already canceled because of an outbreak among Miami Marlins players.

During the last few weeks, there have been a plethora of signs cropping up on people’s lawns. Some wish congratulations to graduates while others thank teachers and healthcare workers for going above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic. There are also many such messages appearing on the windows of cars, some of which include best wishes for couples who recently got married.

It’s an old Camp Dora Golding tradition. On Friday afternoon, the staff plays against the camp administration in a competitive baseball game. For most of the well over two decades that I’ve been here in camp, those games have been a mainstay of Erev Shabbos in camp. During the last few summers, however, those games fizzled out. But this past Friday, it was back on the schedule.

This past Friday morning, my wife and I were walking on the side of Route 45, a busy thoroughfare in our neighborhood, when we noticed some stunning flowers growing on the side of the road. Since it was no-man’s land, we picked a few for our Shabbos table.

 “Zehu Zeh! (This is It!)” was a long-running Israeli comedy show from 1978 through 1998. It was a series of sketches that poked fun at the obsessions and idiosyncrasies of Israeli life. Now, 22 years later, the original group was reunited to give Israelis the opportunity to laugh during the current coronavirus pandemic. The new sketches poke fun at face masks, hand sanitizers, and social distancing.

The following is the letter I wrote to Heichal HaTorah’s graduating Class of 2020 for their yearbook:

 Dare Graduates!

 No, that’s not a typo. That’s my message to you, dear graduates.