The Zayde Chronicles

"How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding (Bina) rather to be chosen than silver.” Proverbs 16:16 One of my favorite Jewish jokes speaks of the difference between the Jewish pessimist and the Jewish optimist.  Says the Jewish pessimist: “Things are terrible, they can’t get any worse.”  Says the Jewish optimist: “Things are terrible, but they can always get worse.”  Thus, my reaction to the current national and geopolitical dynamic along with growing climate instability is that it is hard not to be a Jewish optimist, comforted, in our uniquely Jewish way, that everything can always get worse. In an era where there is so much that is troubling and frightening, we all need more Bina. In Hebrew, Bina means “wisdom”, however, in Jewish tradition, ‘Bina’ goes beyond knowing – it is knowledge based on understanding, tempered by contemplation and reflection. It is knowing how to employ all we have learned with thoughtfulness and framed with humanity.

Zeh hayom asah Adonai, nagilah v'nismecha vo". "This is the day that God has made, let us celebrate and rejoice in it My Mother’s English name was Beulah.  On multiple levels, this puts her on the “B” list for baby naming opportunities.  But everybody called her “Billie”.  Her Hebrew name was “Bracha”, which, in Hebrew, means “blessing”. Like her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, my mother loved music. We had a piano in our living room and she used to delight in playing and singing.  She performed the lead role in a number of Jewish Center of Bayside Oaks musical performances.  If you like, I can sing you a couple of stanzas. When we were children, she would play a movement from Mozart’s Piano Sonata #11 – and we would whirl and dance across the living room like dervishes, then collapse on the floor. She would wait a couple of seconds and then start again.  Alya and Nomi are probably thinking that this explains a lot.  Like Nomi and Keith, my mother loved chi