Twilight Zone
My recent posts...Twilight Zone בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת Bein hashemashot, literally, between the suns. בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת A twilight zone of time, or rather, out of time, between one day and the next. Our sages of old used this concept to explain certain miraculous...
When to Pray Yizkor
My recent posts...My edited comments from this past final day of Pesach. Ellie’s mom, Julia Helfman, died on her 95th birthday, December 24, 2025. This was the first Yizkor service Ellie feels obligated to attend. She said, “I’m now a member of a club I was not eager...
Timing
It had become a Kremer household Pesach tradition, or rather, a pre-Pesach tradition. Somewhere within a couple of days prior the first seder and noon on erev Pesach, something would go awry in the kitchen.
A Moment of Hebrew
My recent posts...רֶגַע שֶׁל עִבְרִית regga shel ivrit: A moment of Hebrew The summer of 1970, I was one of 250 teens in Israel with Camp Ramah. (Ellie was on the same program, but we didn’t meet then.) I got an outsized pleasure of riding an Egged public bus in...
Leaving/Returning
Nearly nothing in our world now feels still, calm. People are yelling at one another (much easier than seeking solutions and making compromises) to the point that most seem to have stopped listening.
We are going to listen, to see, to join hearts with our people — family, friends and strangers. We will hug relatives; someone asked me to pass a hug on to a random person. Hmmm … a surprise “This is from Ben!” might not be well received. Then again….
I will be meeting the tour organizer with whom I worked on our canceled synagogue trip, aiming to reschedule for 2025, not so far away any more, really.
We look forward to our time in our homeland, we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. We encourage you to book a trip or plan to come with us next year.
The attached video is an adaptation of my benediction at our community Yom Hashoah program last week. It is adapted for the transition from yom hazikaron to yom ha’atzmaut, from Israel’s Memorial Day to Independence Day.