May the Breath of the cosmos illuminate us and be generous to us.
May we be strong as lions (ארי) full of awe (ירא) for the light that illumines (מאיר) us, reflects (מראה) from us, and that others see (ראה) glowing within us.
On August 18, 1790, the original George W. penned eight consequential words that don’t receive sufficient repetition. The words were not originally his. He mirrored the text of a letter delivered to him earlier that day in Newport, Rhode Island by Moses Seixas that described the new United States Government as one […]
With Avigail’s editorial involvement, the longer fallow periods between editions of this Haggadah have shortened. The previous printed edition is only 2 years old. Before that, they were further years apart. While I remain fairly satisfied, I am not complacent. I made many changes following Seder 5751 when Avigail and I visited Reed to see if […]
originally published October 2011; updated August 2018
Most people who know me understand that I am not averse to technological change. I have been interested in how communications technologies have been used and changed for many years. In June of 2010, I wrote about my involvement in the development of what I called “the electronic leaflet”. When I was in […]
Purim: Megilla Readings, Balls and Concerts (oh my; so many options)
As long ago as 1864, New York Jews attended Purim Balls, a tradition now maintained for the past 32 years at The Jewish Museum. And, not only in New York, but also Beverly Hills, CA, Minneapolis, MN and Akron, OH where young women are presented as […]
[A slight variant of this page appears here 10 times. In each the text remains essentially the same. However, I will add a link to a new “survey” each time.]
I have written elsewhere, that I came to the rabbinate out of “polity” not “piety”. My involvement was as a community organizer.
Nonetheless, I recall sitting one Yom Kippur day in the late […]
Is Fake News vs. Truth a case of Goliath vs. David?
Once we knew one truth
Over forty years ago, Rabbi Richard N. Levy wrote a paragraph that entered the Gates of Prayer Siddur. I quoted from it in a sermon during the Clinton impeachment hearings that dealt with “what is truth”.
Once we learned one truth, and it was cherished or […]
a selection of Jewish-themed campaign buttons 1940–2016
A briefer version of this blog post, with fewer illustrations, was published as “Ten Minutes of Torah” on October 27, 2016 on ReformJudaism.org.
Strangers don’t often interact on New York’s streets. Yet, this election season, I am often stopped and asked about my political lapel button.
May the Breath of the cosmos illuminate us and be generous to us.
May we be strong as lions (ארי)
full of awe (ירא) for the light that illumines (מאיר) us, reflects (מראה) from us,
and that others see (ראה) glowing within us.
Numbers 6:25
Anagrams and related words of יָאֵר
I began creating a Web site in my head as early as August 1995 when I drafted the following
For a project I’m pursuing regarding Jewish involvement on the internet and the World Wide Web in particular, I’m interested in learning about any sites about which you may know. For example, do any rabbis have Home pages? Which synagogues or synagogue organizations have Web sites? Does Marge Piercy have a site at which you can read portions of "He She and It"? Does Howard Rheingold have a site where you can learn more about creating a Virtual [Jewish] Community? Is there a Web Camera at the Kotel? In the Wilderness of Zin?
This site remains under considerable reconstruction.
Most pages should still be available in their original location. However, I will be moving the vast majority of the old site (static html pages) into the Web 2.0 (blog) site. If you experience any "link rot", please let me know.
When I initially created this site I organized the material into what seemed to be meaningful categories (in the days before "tags"). But the time came when, it was hard to figure out which link to click if you wanted to know about Sammy Levinger's ("who"?) death ("what"?) while fighting during the Spanish Civil War ("when"?), though we had visited Belchite the site ("where?") of the battle where he sustained his mortal wounds. The new tools should make this process easier.
`//rite on!
,\\ark Hurvitz
Producing content on the Web since 1995.
some sayings of ר‘משבצונה“ל
For many years I have worked hard, and struggled with mastering virtuous. Now, in addition, I’m working on becoming more virtual. This is an expression of that effort.
* * * * * * *
השיבנו ה‘ אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כעוד לא היו * * * * * * *
ומביא גאלה…
לצאצאיהם
All photographs are by Mark Hurvitz unless they are obviously not (or credit otherwise is given).
The photos in the banner at the top (only a shallow sliver of a much larger photo) are either from our home or our travels and are offered for their beauty alone (though a brain-teaser for me: "Where was that?").
