Sep 6, 2020
Of Castles and Coastlines
There are a good many things I love about Scotland. One is the diversity. Most people think of whisky and tartans and Edinburgh Castle,...
Aug 9, 2020
The 39 Melachot
When the Jewish people were wandering in the desert, during those 40 formative years following the Exodus from Egypt, they became a...
Jul 30, 2020
The Work of Our Feet
During lockdown I went 79 days without getting into a vehicle. I walked to the grocery store, I walked through the park, and I really got...
Jun 30, 2020
The Work of Our Hands
I decided to come up to the farm the day after Shavuot, one of the Jewish harvest festivals. I went into the backyard and wanted to plant...
Jun 11, 2020
On Farming and Finding
You never know what you don’t know. Before this week I didn’t know that chickpeas grow in pods, just like snap peas. I didn’t know that...
May 10, 2020
Of Raglans and Resilience
"As I inch my way around this glove's wrist, I am reminded that knitting is fundamentally about binding together. Not only binding wool...
Apr 14, 2020
A Time For Now
Time moves differently in quarantine. I sleep with my window open, letting in the light from the street. I wake up looking outside,...
Mar 22, 2020
Alone Together
Last Shabbat I saw all my friends. I went from house to house, schmoozing and celebrating the wonderful community I've become a part of...
Feb 20, 2020
Of Talmud and Tradition
I knit myself a pullover sweater which just didn't work as a pullover sweater. The front bottom edge puffs out in the front at an...
Jan 23, 2020
On Spaces and Searching
My bus pulled in to Delphi well after dark, and I stopped in at the one taverna that was open on the one street in the village. The one...
Dec 20, 2019
Of Santorini Sunsets
Winter in Scotland has been hard (and it’s hardly yet begun). The days are short and cold. It’s dark when I walk to work, and dark again...
Nov 27, 2019
Of Cheap Hostels and Belgian Waffles
The Grand Place in Brussels I love travelling alone. I love the feeling of getting off a long bus ride in a totally new place and walking...
Nov 25, 2019
On Choices and Voices
Poland is a very particular type of Holocaust experience. Don’t get me wrong - I love Poland. I think it’s a beautiful country, with so...
Nov 15, 2019
From Scotland to Poland
In October 2019 I led a UJIA delegation of 11 Scottish teenagers to visit Jewish sites across Poland. The following blog posts were...
Sep 27, 2019
Arran Magic
I arrived on the Isle of Arran on the first ferry Friday morning and left on the last ferry Sunday night. Arran is an island just off the...
Sep 9, 2019
Two Weeks Later
In my first two weeks in Glasgow I’ve already experienced a great many things. I accompanied a group of 12-year-olds as they volunteered...
Sep 5, 2019
Where To Go, What To Do: North
This is the follow-up post to Where To Go, What To Do: South, which showcases my travels in South India and gives some itinerary planning...
Sep 3, 2019
Where To Go, What To Do: South
India is huge. And not only is it physically large, but each region is vastly different culturally, many with their own distinctive...
Aug 26, 2019
On Endings and Beginnings
Me with some new friends outside the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu I picked up a dirty secondhand copy of the novel Life...
Aug 6, 2019
Monuments of Exile
Just before I came to India, I met someone who said that his family is Tibetan, but he grew up in India. I remember that it didn't really...