Ush'avtem mayim b'sasson, mimay'ney ha-y'shu-a, you will draw water in joy from springs of salvation. It's a great song to dance the hora to. It's also in the Haftarah for Yom Ha-atsma-ut, Israeli Independence day, the day on which I'm writing this.

It's late Saturday night in a bar in the Jewish section of town. A man and a dog walk into a bar. The man orders a slivovitz for himself, and for his dog, a beer in a dish.

Have you noticed the robins lately? It seems like there are a lot of them. Actually there hasn't been a dramatic rise in robin birthrate this year. We're just seeing more of them close up. Less human activity, less traffic. makes them bolder. 

One of the tasks I set myself when I accepted this assignment was to prepare a kavannah, a prayer intention, for every Shabbat morning service. Then Covid happened. I'm still preparing my kavvanot, but the time of quarantine, not being able to daven with people around, has made me think even more about prayer. I'll share what I've been thinking with you.