David the Dynamo
How can one person meaningfully pursue multiple passions?

Dear Ryan,

I often feel pulled in many directions, between trying to build a career, maintain relationships, pursue personal interests, and figure out what I want my life to look like. Recently, I graduated from college, got married, and moved across the country, and while I’m excited for this new chapter, I also feel this overwhelming uncertainty about what comes next.

Is it possible to pursue multiple passions and responsibilities without losing my sense of purpose or getting lost in the chaos of life? Can I have it all?

– Em

Dear Em,

I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across a prompt that spoke more closely to me. I’m a columnist, but I’m also a songwriter, poet, and musician; a booking agent, audio engineer, and producer; a Jewish educator and a student. It’s hard to balance, but it’s not impossible—nor is it novel—for the Jew.

I was recently studying Tractate Berakhot of the Talmud. The rabbis talk in depth about my Hebrew namesake—that young shepherd Elchanan who made great waves as a fierce warrior, composed the finest works of the Hebrew poetic tradition, and would ultimately be remembered as David HaMelech, the divinely crowned king of Israel. In Berakhot, the sages additionally recall David as a lifelong student, and as a judge, personally hearing cases and delivering verdicts.

Talk about someone who had it all!

It was not without sacrifice, though. It is said he hung a harp in his window to serve as an alarm clock. When the night winds blew, he would wake up and resume his work. He lived in constant doubt and questioning, at one point crying out to G-d, “Master of the Universe, I know you reward the righteous in the World to Come, but I do not know if I have a portion among them.”

And then, when it seemed as if the Shepherd King had his fill of responsibility and stress, David began his most ambitious project yet—the construction of the Jewish Temple.

I can imagine David now, hurrying out of an afternoon study session, jotting Temple designs on a large piece of parchment wedged between pages of poetry, tripping over his robe and falling as he races across the palace. Imagine his frustration, having to pick up and rebalance all of his reed pens and scrolls, only to make it a few feet down the hall before tripping again.

Hearing all the racket, one of his aides comes down the corridor, only to find a very flustered David sprawled out amongst his things.

“Why the rush, sir?” his aide says, leaning down to help him gather his scattered belongings.

“I have to be at court on the other side of the palace,” David replies. “If I’m late, it will throw my whole day off! If my day is thrown off, my week will be off as well! And if my week is off, my whole life will be too, and I may never achieve all my goals.”

The aide extends his hand, helping David stand up.

“All that rushing around,” he says, “and did it save you any time? Come, let me take a stack of your work, and let’s walk slowly together. That way, you do not trip, and you’re only late by a little, instead of by a lot.”

As Rabbi Tarfon taught—and as David came to understand—“It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

David may have composed a beautiful collection of poetry, but only half of the Book of Psalms bears his authorship. David may have devoted his life to learning, but the Talmud only gleans a handful of insights from his teachings. David may have authored the Temple blueprints and gathered the materials, but it was his son, the wise King Solomon, who brought his work to fruition.

Em, you have a lot on your plate, but it’s not your job to finish the work—only to do your part to the best of your ability. It’s a lot of stress, I know, trying to be a good partner, a hard worker, and a productive member of your community, but don’t be afraid to take it slow and to just do what you can. David’s constant rush, his insistence on doing it all as quickly and efficiently as possible, caused him to stumble and fall. Take your time and, most importantly, seek a little help from those who love you. Who knows, you may find yourself having it all.

Mazel tov on your new life journey.

– Ryan

Have a question for Modern Midrash? Reach out to Glenn at Howdy@ryanglenn.online

Sources & Notes
Rashi’s commentary on II Samuel 21:19 — The traditional association of Elchanan with David. sefaria.org/Rashi_on_II_Samuel.21.19.1
Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 3b-4a — Depiction of David as a student and judge, the midrash concerning the harp suspended above his bed, and his uncertainty about his righteousness. English quotation adapted and modernized by the author from A. Cohen’s public-domain translation, Tractate Berakot (Cambridge University Press, 1921). sefaria.org/Berakhot.3b
Jerusalem Talmud, Berakhot 1:1 — The interpretation that David’s harp was played by the wind. https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Berakhot.1.1
Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 2:16 — Rabbi Tarfon’s teaching about unfinished work. English quotation adapted and modernized by the author from Charles Taylor’s public-domain translation, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Cambridge University Press, 1897). sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16
I Chronicles 22-28 — David’s preparations for the construction of the Temple, including the gathering of materials and the plans he handed down to Solomon. sefaria.org/I_Chronicles.22
Chabad.org, “14 Facts About the Book of Psalms,” by Menachem Posner — The traditional attribution of roughly half the Book of Psalms to David, with other psalms being attributed to additional authors or left anonymous. chabad.org, article 5567539
The encounter between David and his aide is an original midrash by the author of this piece.

(Posted Nov. 9) Dressed in a multicolored, sequined pantsuit and donning his signature, oversized, brightly colored bowler hat.  Boy George – in his inimitable, flamboyant and somewhat gaudy manner- graced the stage of Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim Arena for his second and final concert in Israel on Saturday night.  And the wife and I were there.  Amongst the almost sold out crowd of eight thousand fans. 

Well.  The crowd may not have all been ‘fans’ in the classic sense.  But everyone was there in support of Boy George standing -or dancing- with Israel.  He has been an outspoken defender of Israel for years.  And now strongly and uncompromisingly bucking the latest trend of Israel bashing and boycotts that has become increasingly characteristic of the liberal, progressive nature of the entertainment industry.  In fact, he had to withdraw from London’s East End production of Jesus Christ Superstar where he was slated to play.  Yep, you guessed it.  King Herod (but without the bowler hat which was not in fashion back in 20 BCE).

With his reggae song “We Will Dance Again”, released in July 2026, Boy George clearly comes to Israel as…well…one of us.  His song is packed with emotional and caring lyrics.  “You say genocide, I say war / When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for”.

Dedicating his second concert, not originally planned but quickly arranged to satisfy the huge ticket demand, to the Nova Festival.  Surprisingly -and to his credit- Boy George did not milk his anti-boycott, divest and sanction position.  He did not play the drama queen on stage, for which he is so well positioned and on so many levels.  Rather he performed in his incomparable style.  Although well into his concert he sang only one recognizable chart-topper, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”.  And this sung as a duet with Israeli singer Ivri Lider -nice touch- in a rather different rendition from the 1982 breakout hit.

Making many pro-Israel -dare I say Zionist- references to being in Israel and the tsunami of resentment and hate he now faces.  Essentially telling his detractors to ‘F—k off’ (Boy’s words).  To a loud round of applause and cheering.  He told a story of how many of his so-called, one-time ‘friends’ told him his departed, Irish mother would be disappointed in him and his stance.  Boy George retorted, with his customary chuckle/cackle, that he was sure his mom couldn’t be prouder.  To yet another rousing round of applause and cheering.

Now I must admit.  Gotta’ come clean here.  Ninety minutes into his concert the wife began feeling sick and wanted to leave.  What!  Seriously!  There are still songs to be sung!  Admittedly, she had to ask me three times before I’d move.  Cause I really wanted to stay for the rest of the show.  And especially see him perform “We Will Dance Again”.  And hear his other recognizable classics like “Karma Chameleon”, “It’s a Miracle” and my personal favorite “The Crying Game” – all of which he may have been saving for the encore.  Based on reviews from his first show – sorry this part not scribed firsthand- he did indeed play his hits.  And the crowd predictably clapped and rooted when he sang “We Will Dance Again” towards the end of the evening.  Even singing and dancing in their seats along with Boy George.  A kind of unity in trauma.

During his stay in Israel Boy George toured the Nova dance festival grounds.  Visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.  And met with President Herzog, who honored the singer by declaring that “Since October 7, Israel and the Jews…have faced an onslaught of attacks…(including) in the world of culture, art and music….However you stood up and said: ‘If you’re ever confused, I stand with the Jews’.”  A most appropriate tribute to the extravagant and colorful performer.

I’ve never been a Boy George or Culture Club fan.  Ya, I liked a few of his songs but not much more than that.  However it was important to demonstrate my support to the bravery and solidarity that Boy George has shown Israel.  And am now waiting for other performers to follow….  Jerry Seinfeld.  Sarah Silverman. Barbra Streisand.  Pink.  Drake.  David Draiman.  Simon and Garfunkel (alone or together).  Gene and Paul (revive one last Kiss concert). Israel is waiting for you.

(Posted Nov. 5) Was sitting in my saferoom the other day.  Watching T.V.  As the room also doubles as a den.  And I noticed a kippa (or skullcap for you reform Jews or yarmulke for you true Yids) sitting on one of the shelfs.  Guess I placed it there while preparing for another round of missiles during one of Trump’s infinite threats.  Don’t remember doing that.  But there it was.  Knitted blue with white trim.  If needed, only an arm’s reach from disaster.  Then I started to muse.  Like really muse.  Why did I, a secularist and probably an agnostic (but not really sure – is that a pun?), bring a kippa into the saferoom.   Mulled it over a few days.  But it still bemused me.  So I turned to a good friend.  Who is a rabbi.  And he provided a very profound response.  “As the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes.”  Thank you, Rabbi.  For the wisdom.

(Posted Nov. 2) Wimpy from Popeye fame would have a gluttonously good time in Israel these days.  The Israel street food culture has strongly shifted since McDonald’s opened its first branch here in 1993.  I took my girlfriend -now the wife- to that grand opening.  Waiting almost forty minutes (!) for a Big Mac.  BTW, McDonalds now has 225 branches in Israel.   Digressing….    There are just some really great burger bars in Israel now -Vetrina, Prozdor, Josef’s  and America (what else?!), to name a few.  For sure since McDonald’s grand opening, the Israeli street food palate largely moved from falafels to burgers.  With the landscape changing from falafel stands to hamburger joints.  Tel Aviv alone has ~ 110 burger places vs 35 for falafel.  And, get this, the total annual Israeli burger market is about 2.5B nis.  While the famous Israeli falafel is estimated at a paltry 1.8B nis.  Disclaimer – while still a disputable fact, although largely associated with Israel the falafel has its origins in Egypt.  Talk about food colonialism and here I totally digress.  Anyway, as Wimpy would say while hanging on Dizengoff Street, “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a good Israeli hamburger today.”

(Posted Oct. 29) With a voter turnout of 77.7%.  The highest in twenty-seven years and eleven election cycles.  With neither block – the current coalition nor the opposition – able to form a stable majority.  Nay, a simple majority. With each party having made goldarn, hifalutin campaign declarations about whom they won’t sit with.  And now facing just such a choice.  With each block comprised of several smaller parties -yep, Israel’s wonderful proportional representative democracy at work- having their own goldarn, hifalutin principles.   And now struggling with comprise.  How do you define deadlock.  That’s precisely where our little shtetl finds itself.

(Posted Oct. 26) Trigger warning.  Totally unscientific, totally subjective, highly generalized tour of Israeli electoral patterns musing ahead. 

With election day upon us.  The wife says if more of the same is voted in… she’s outta’ here.  Somewhat extreme but I get her.  A pretty common threat in the Shtetl these days.  But that’s if you live in North Tel Aviv. While the word from stall owners of Tel Aviv’s HaTikva market and Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market is somewhat different.  While visiting the latter, the Prime Minister received a rousing chorus of the Israeli English version of Happy Birthday.  Celebrating his 77^th.  I wish him the best… as he hopefully prepares for retirement.  Which does not excuse a bottle thrown at his motorcade as he arrived – totally unacceptable!   Meanwhile, those in areas like Bnei Brak, Bet Shemesh and Mea Shearim may be looking for something else.  Voting for Shas, United Torah Judaism or the ilk to retain their status quo of not educating, not paying taxes and not serving.  And those from the Settlements most likely casting their vote for Smotrich or Ben Gvir.  Yikes!  And double yikes!  Our Arab co-citizens from Nazareth, Jaffa, and Umm al-Fahm most likely voting for Ra’am or the Joint List (comprising the three other main Arab parties).  Speaking of which, I am pretty impressed with Monsour Abbas’s Ra’am; channeling a message of co-existence, cooperation and loyalty.   Although a meaningful partner in the previous Bennett/Lapid government, still too extreme a ballot to cast.  For me anyway.  And supporters of the middle, -often veering to the right and comprising the current main coalition or opposition blocs- can be found throughout the shtetl.  As for me.  I still waver between Eisenkot or Bennett.  Or perhaps Lieberman…but probably not.  Message to myself – time to decide!  All while under the threat of another skirmish with Iran.  Who is looking to upend our democratic right but what do they know about democracy.  My back-of-the-voting-envelope wisdom as we approach October 27.  Vote.  But vote for the right guy.  Hmmm. ‘Guy’?   All party leaders are men.  Now where’s a good Golda when you need one.  Sagacious indeed. 

(Posted Oct. 22) Israel.  Once famous for its Jaffa oranges.  Has since offered the world so much more than just a tasty, vitamin C packed, citrus boost.  We’re offering.  And most of the globe is accepting.  World class hi-tech, med-tech, agri-tech, def-tech (yes defense!) innovations that.  Well.  Simply make the planet a better place.  From Intel Israel’s Pentium 4 and Centrino microchips.  Where the ancient city of Jerusalem became the world’s first Wi-Fi-enabled city.  How cool is that!  To Checkpoint’s worldclass network firewall security systems.  From Teva’s generic low-cost medications and schizophrenia and bone health treatments.  To Given Imaging’s pain saving Pill Cams.  To MeMed’s fifteen-minute blood tests distinguishing between infections. To Rafael and Elbit’s Iron Dome and Iron Beam anti-missile defense systems.  To Ormat’s renewable energy solutions.  From Netafim’s pioneering drip irrigation technology.  To CropX smarter farming with less water. To Watergen and H20LL which.  Now get this.  Essentially turns air into drinking water.  Hmmmm….  To Mobileye technology helping cars see.  Yep, those dashboard beeps when approaching another car too fast was developed in our little shtetl.  To Waze’s GPS navigation software.  Without which we would probably make the wrong turn.   And to Wiz’s cloud and AI cybersecurity platforms, sold to Google in 2026 for 32B$.  In cash.  The largest foreign acquisition of an Israeli company to date – not too bad!  And many, many more ‘Froms’ and ‘Tos’.  So now.  A modest call out to all those BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) supporters.  You probably don’t realize how embedded your daily lives are with Israeli invention.  But don’t worry.  Israel won’t sanction you.  So remember.  Buy Israeli!

(Posted Oct. 19) So, two runner up distinctions for my little shtetl.  On the bright side.  Israel is often considered to have the second highest number of listings on the tech heavy NASDAQ.  Often jockeying for second place with China and sometimes Canada.  The number one country, of course, is the U.S..  On the not so bright side.  According to Microsoft’s 2026 Digital Defense Report, Israel was ranked the second most targeted county in the world for ‘observed state-linked cyber events’, at 210 events.  The number one country here is also the U.S.  (at 531 such events).  Now this is a specific metric limited to particular and observed cyber activity.  On a broader note, Israel’s National Cyber Directorate reported about 4,800 hostile cyber incidents in June 2026.  Yes, in a single month!  Somewhat daunting.  And thank goodness for our esteemed IDF 8200 unit.  I digress.  And back to the NASDAQ listings and the MS Digital Defense Report.  Guess we gotta’ take the good with the bad. 

(Posted Oct. 15) Congratulations South African jurist Navi Pillay for winning the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Not. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that she won the prize “for her efforts to promote peace and international law.” Now I admittedly don’t know much about Navi other than what I just googled. Our legal scholar defended anti-apartheid activists in South Africa including Nelson Mandella and was a Prosecutor against crimes committed during the 1994 Rwandan war. But. And here I tend to agree with the shtetl voices accusing Navi of bigotry and injustice. For heading a UN Commission of Inquiry that concluded Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. And for previously serving as a Judge at that bastion of ‘justice for all’, the International Criminal Court which later served arrest warrants for war crimes against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Granted, not during her tenure but anyway kinda’ guilty by association – there’s a pun in there somewhere. Seriously. Am just so goldarn frustrated that now another anti-Israel voice will have its day on the international stage. To promote her version of ‘peace and international law’. And the beat goes on….

(Posted Oct. 12) Thirty-eight parties.  That’s right.  Thirty-eight political parties are running in this year’s national elections.  Meshuga!  Of course.  The list includes those ‘far out’ groups, such as the Garden of Eden party or the Shema party or the Eternal Covenant party.  All fringe messianic slates that don’t stand a chance of crossing Israel’s 3.25% electoral threshold.  Thankfully.  Of this very robust list there are about twelve ‘mainstream’ parties -yes, Israel has a very broad midsection- with a reasonable chance of winning a seat to Israel’s twenty-sixth Knesset.  Compare this to Canada’s political map of sixteen national parties.  That’s right.  Sixteen parties.  Meshuga!  Of course.  Surprising that stable, predictable and moderate Canada has so many political colors.  Of this somewhat robust list there is but a handful of mainstream parties – a pretty narrow midsection.  Back to thirty-eight and as the saying goes, ‘two Israelis three opinions’.  With fifteen days remaining until election day.  Let the mudslinging continue.

(Posted Oct. 8): The ‘negotiations’. And I use the term loosely. Between the U.S. and Iran. So goldarn random. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are playing a kind of remote game of rock, paper. Scissors. Just imagine them. President Trump for the U.S. And. Well. Someone for Iran. Hooked up via high security internet link. Throwing out their fists. Rock. Or paper. Or scissors. Lots of confidence, that.

(Posted Oct. 6): Commemorating Oct 7 2023

Shortly after that tragic day.  Visiting the haunting display of despair and hope at Dizengoff Square.  The wounds still raw.  Was mainly despair.  With only a glimmer of hope.  Overcome by the collection of bloodied and blindfolded stuffed teddy bears strewn against the Agam Fountain.

Driving home afterwards.  Two songs played on the radio. One after the other.  As if the music score to a very sad movie.  Even today, when hearing these songs.  They conjure up memories of my mindset three years ago.  

George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.  “I look at the world / And I notice, it’s turning / With every mistake / We must surely be learning / Still my guitar gently weeps…” 

Paul McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’.  “Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly / You were only waiting for this moment to be free / Blackbird fly / Into the light of a dark black night…”

Always remembering.  But looking forward.

(Posted Oct. 1): So my daughter told me about the new apartment rental she was considering for the upcoming academic year in Jerusalem. “Third floor.  Three bedrooms for three roommates.  Twenty minutes from the university.  Close to the bus stop.  Grocery store nearby.”  She itemized.  Then with her next breath, “Shetler in the next building.” Kinda’ took my breath away.  Is that where we live?  What we’ve become?  What pre-occupies us?  Yes.  Yes.  Yes. 

Despite my recurring safe room musings.  It still kinda’ shook my core.  But once I regained my existential footing.  I realized how lucky we are.  We have a well-prepared wartime infrastructure.  We are conscious of wartime safety and security.   It’s become second nature.  Even when choosing an apartment.  Then I recalled how last year.  When my daughter first moved to Jerusalem.  I focused on the shelter thing.  Even timed a dash to the nearest shelter.  She cringed with embarrassment.  As she does with much of what I do – dad stuff and I digress.  Now here she is.  One year later.  Itemizing her well thought out considerations.  Including the shelter.   I guess she listens to me after all.  Well…sometimes anyway.

(Posted Sept. 28) Caution.  Caution.  A very long muse ahead….
 
So Prime Minister Netanyahu made his fifteenth address at the United Nations General Assembly.  I get excited with every speech.  Preparing some lightly buttered popcorn and comfortably settling in front of the T.V. for some high-stakes geopolitical posturing.  And this one didn’t miss the mark and the high bar Netanyahu sets for himself.
 
Liked when he referred to our ‘friends’ leaving the hall before he spoke.  Asking.  And smirking.  At the beginning of his speech.  If there are any other “moral cowards” who would like to leave.  He could have said much worse. 
 
Liked his strong defense against the acrimonious, hostile, and simply incorrect accusation of genocide.  Insisting, with examples, of Israel being guilty of the opposite.  Supplying a million polio vaccinations.  Distributing two million tons of food.  Providing warnings of pending attacks -leaflets, cellphone calls, ‘knocks on the roof’ (an IDF tactic of firing non-lethal projectiles towards roof tops as warning to noncombatants to evacuate before a pending airstrike)- in civilian areas where Hamas is inevitably hiding.  Netanyahu also referenced Colonel John Spencer, head of Urban Warfare studies at West Point and the preeminent expert on, well, urban warfare.   Who clearly defends Israel as having done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any other military in history.  That’s quite a claim!  So yes.  Israel can actually be guilty of ediconeg – the opposite of genocide.
 
Didn’t like Netanyahu’s Ben-Gviresque defense of violent West Bank settlers.  Or is it  Judea & Samaria.  I admittedly struggle in geographically defining the area, I digress.  And didn’t like him referring to these settlers as “juvenile delinquents”.  They are much more than that!  If not terrorists, they should at least be called -and treated- as violent criminals.  I admittedly struggle with finding the appropriate label, again digressing.  Overall, this struck me as pandering to his far-right electorate.  Standing before the green marble wall of the UN podium…hmmm, not the most appropriate venue for local electioneering.   
 
Didn’t like his beeper reference.  While brilliant, the pager attack in Lebanon happened in Sept 2024.  Was so taken aback by this reference that I fact checked the date between mouthfuls of popcorn.  And Israel already took credit for this publicly and at several international forums.  Just seemed a bit dated, forced and out of place. 
 
Liked the swipe at our ‘friend’ Mamdani.  On the podium of the U.N. in N.Y.   No less!
 
Liked his call for Jews around the world to stand tall.  “Raise your head high.  Be proud.  Be confident.  Don’t be intimidated.”  He admonished.  Okay, confession time.  I will not speak Hebrew with the wife when travelling overseas.  Am a bit scared and maybe need to stand a bit taller.  I digress.
 
Liked Netanyahu’s callout to the Iranian people.  Declaring that “The power of the people will overcome the people in power.”  Although he didn’t have to provide a public service announcement for Elon Musk’s Starlink, waving a Starlink device at the podium. 
 
Didn’t like, as pointed out by the Jerusalem Post, that there was no complementary vision to his fiery, hardline and somewhat Sparta-like rhetoric.  No mention of a more conciliatory, Athenia-like vision for the day after.  Emphasizing Israel’s desire for peace and what it can and has offered the world.   
 
Loved the overall theme.  That Israel will survive.  And thrive.  Because, as he exclaimed several times, “We have no other choice!”  This was based on a reference in his address to his older brother Yonathan Netanayhu who led the rescue at Entebbe in 1976 and was the only Israeli casualty.  Netanyahu even thanked the Uganda government for recently erecting a statue dedicated to his brother.  Thought this a nice, personal touch.
 
Loved Netanyahu’s passion.  His fiery indignation echoing throughout his almost forty-minute speech.  His fury at the goldarn outrageous, bigoted, noxious branding of Israel as ‘bad’ by much of the world’s useful idiots.  Although should have channeled some of that ire to a more conciliatory day after vision.
 
Anyway.  As for the United Nations.  That bastion of partiality and moral cowardice.  Think it should be renamed the United Naars.  Again I digress.  

(Posted Sept. 25) Looping back to an August 9 muse about my visit to Jerusalem’s Basimta Café and its dispute with the neighborhood ultra-orthodox for opening on Shabbat.  Which I felt was a bit of a storm in a teacup as there wasn’t much protest action when I visited.  But kerfuffles nonetheless.  Unfortunately the café decided against remaining open on Shabbat.  According to the café manager “…it will return to what it was intended to be: a calm, pleasant and open place for coffee, culture and dialogue.”   As it turns out, the manager is also CEO of Jews for Jesus.  Which is fine by me.  Live and let live.  But just wondering if this was also reason for the café brouhaha.  As there are many other Jerusalem cafes open on Shabbat which the ultra-orthodox do not protest against.  Not that I want to give anyone ideas.  Just sayin’.

(Ed. note: Just to put Bruce’s latest musing in context, here again is what he wrote on August 9): August 8, 2026)

Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem.  Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black.  Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat.  For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos.  With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café.  While shouting ‘Shabbos!  Shabbos!’   Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas.  So the wife and I thought we would check it out.  And.  Yes.  Buy something to support the business.  Uproar.  Not.  Blocked entrances.  Not.  Storming the café.  Not.  Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers.  The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews.  Mostly teenagers.   And yes.  Shouting ‘Shabbos!  Shabbos!’  Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem.  Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed.  If you do, you’re misinformed.”  But I did enjoy my iced matcha.

(Posted Sept. 22) Admire him or despise him. Love him or hate him. Commend him or vilify him. Praise him or criticize him. Respect him or disdain him. Believe him or doubt him. Vote for him or not. However you perceive him. And whether you support him. Wishing Prime Minister Netanyahu a successful visit to New York and the U.N. And that we won’t have to send him a cake with a hacksaw baked inside. Mamdani… stand down!

(Posted Sept. 18) Just wonderin’.  When a tree falls in a forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?   And if Iran says it’s not enriching uranium and no one’s there to verify it, do they develop fissile material?

Now Iran just obtained a seat on the General Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference – how crazy is that.  Like letting the cat guard the milk.

(Posted Sept. 15) Apparently some superheroes are against us.  But not really.  Whewww!!!   Fortunately it’s just the progressive actors who play them in movies.  Such as Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange) and Mark Ruffalo (the Hulk) as well as other minor actors not worth mentioning.  What are these misinformed thespians aligning themselves with.  Not sure they really know.  Well.  It’s with The Freedom for Marwan campaign, which pushes for the release of convicted, arch-terrorist mastermind Marwan Barghouti.  Convicted in 2004 and sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years for orchestrating various heinous shooting sprees in Israel during the Second Intifada (2000-2005).  Killing and wounding too many innocent Israeli civilians including a Greek Orthodox monk outside Jerusalem.  As a comic book fan, and closet Batman and Aquaman (when I swim), it saddens me that these guardians of the universe can be associated with defending evil.  But then I remind myself it’s only the actors -what do they know anyway- and not really the superheroes. Unlike our own Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Natalie Portman (the Mighty Thor), Shira Haas (Sabra) and Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth).  All firmly on the side of good.

(Posted Sept 10) Honey cakes.  Honey cakes.  Honey cakes.  It’s that time of year.  Yummy!  Here comes Rosh HaShana 5787.  And its…. You guessed it.  Honey cake season.  That light brown loaf our baba used to make.  Starting a few weeks before Rosh HaShana and extending through Yom Kippur – a first bite to break the fast and usher in a sweet year- honey cakes are found throughout the country.  The familiar sight of the ready-made, pre-packaged, ‘assembly-line’ honey cakes wrapped in cheap cellophane found in Grocery stores.  The freshly baked honey cakes adorning window displays at local bakeries.  The exorbitantly priced, gourmet honey cake desserts offered at fancy Tel Aviv restaurants.  And of course, honey cakes festooning the festive, colorful, Rosh Hashana dinner tables across Israel.  I bake my own honey cake which is pretty good.  My wife and kids would beg to differ.  But these slightly glazed honey cakes -of my own culinary, shtetl inspired creation- are heartedly enjoyed by me as I gain several honey cake induced pounds.  Shana tova!

(Posted Sept. 8) Hoarding.  A combination of my own little wartime PTSD and some recent headlines about Iran trying to coordinate a multifront attack (is that capability still there?!) and October 7 like rumblings from the West Bank (or Judea & Samaria, depending if you wear a kippa and if its knitted and if it tilts to this side or that side -that’s a shtetl insider joke).  I digress and Yikes!  And we just had a nation-wide drill of the IDF’s top-level headquarters preparedness for such scenarios.  Double Yikes!  So ya.  I’m always checking and rechecking that we have way more than enough of some things.  The thought of entering another prolonged war and some stuff no longer available, even for a short time, scares the bejeebers out of me.   Just writing about it triggers the ‘go and buy’ dopamine hit.  Medications.  Toilet paper.  Bottled water.  Canned goods.  Also worried about the country running out of bullets.  But I can’t hoard those.

(Posted Sept. 5) An open letter to the zany and zealous mouthpieces of those delightful, anti-Israel protests held regularly in Toronto.  In the heavily Jewish Bathurst & Sheppard area no less.  Fear and harassment in the community?  Not by the hairs of our chinny chin chins.

Dear Friends.  

Are you serious.  

Sincerely,

Bruce Brown, a Zionist who does not rape children.  Who does not murder children.  Who does not eat children.  And, get this, who lives in Israel.

(Ed. note: To better understand what Bruce is talking about, go to this story on our website: Police open hate-crime investigation)

(Posted Sept. 1) Can you be more of an international embarrassment and liability?  Yes talking about Israeli’s antagonist extraordinaire and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. 

Declaring that Israel should kill ’30-40 Gazans a day’.  Seriously?!?!  His actual statement may have been more refined and qualified.  But it doesn’t really make a difference.  That’s the takeaway.  Like whose side is he on anyway.  Talk about giving our detractors ammunition to delegitimize our little shtetl.  Hello?!?! 

And a few days later.  Showing off in front of a gallows site under construction at a high security prison.  Seriously?!?!  The death penalty for terrorists.  Right or not – I think the former.  But like can you give us reason to be compared to an extremist state.  That’s the takeaway.  Like whose side is he on anyway.  Talk about giving our detractors ammunition to delegitimize our little shtetl.  Hello?!?! 

Serenity now!

(Posted August 28) Kites.  Color.  Childhood.  Hamas and friends should watch Mary Poppins with the final kite flying scene.  Remember that song, Let’s Go Fly A Kite.  Ya, I know.  Somewhat ethnocentric.  But still….  I have fond memories of flying kites with my kids.  Down the Mediterranean shoreline in Tel Aviv.  At the Ness Tziona kite flying festival. Along the green grounds of the Weizmann Institute.  Laughing and running.  Looking to the sky with awe.  Multi-shades and fancy.  Kites.

With your fist ‘olding tight
To the string of your kite

…oh, oh, oh!

Lets go fly a kite

Kites.  Fun.  Laughter.  Innocence.

Kites.  Not an instrument of war.

(Posted August 25) How principled can you be!  Ireland -one of the most anti-Israel and foggiest countries in the EU- insisted that its government’s new, 60$M executive jet NOT be equipped with Elbit’s FalconEye navigation system, which helps pilots navigate in fog -how ironic- and other difficult weather conditions.  Without this unique system the plane must be diverted to alternative airports.  This a part of the government’s official boycott of Israeli goods. So good luck to Prime Minister Michael Martin in landing his aircraft in Dublin.  

And despite some negative sentiment towards everything Israel, Elbit achieved over 32$B in backorders with Europe driving much of its export growth.  On a more personal muse.  The morning after Iran’s first attack on Israel (April 13 2024), I woke up not with fear and panic.  Well.  Okay.  Some of that.  But also great excitement regarding an investment opportunity which developed overnight.  Actually it was the wife’s suggestion.  After Israel successfully intercepted over three hundred missiles and drones – showcasing the strength of Israel’s defense industry- my wife had a eureka moment.  What better public relations for Israel’s defense industry.  Let’s buy stock in Elbit, a key player in that ecosystem.  We did.  And about eighteen months later we cashed in.  With about 150% profit.  This is not an endorsement to buy… blah, blah, blah….

Again.  Good luck to Prime Minister Martin.

(Posted August 21) Sometimes musings are terribly sad.  But should be shared.

Happy belated birthday beautiful Ariel.  Turned seven on August 5^th.  Thought about him and his younger brother Kfir and mother Shiri.  All murdered by Hamas shortly after their unbelievable and surreal abduction on Oct 7 2023.  

As I was driving home today.  “I Thank You Child” by Zakk Wylde shuffled onto my Spotify.  Always kills me, this song.  It was played by Yarden, the father who himself was held hostage, at the funeral of his family.  For Ariel and Kfir.  The lyrics chilling.  The frequent drum rolls haunting.

It was you who made living all worth the while

Oh, I thank you, my child

Comfort in your eyes 

For the warmth inside your smile

Faith’s done gone astray

It was you who made living all the while

All my fears repressed

Oh lovin’ you child it’s the best

This song.  Written almost thirty years ago.  Finds its devastating meaning today.  With the Bibas family tragedy.

How.

Listen to the song here:

(Posted August 18, 2026) And the beat goes on in the strait.  A bit quieter lately although may be heating up again with the 60day ‘ceasefire’ officially expired.  And while Iran occasionally lashed out over the last two months, they did not attack Israel.  How do you spell deterrence.  According to my Yiddisha mama, its spelled ‘Pftt.  Pftt.  Pftt‘. 

(August 14, 2026) Despite three years of varying degrees of warfare.  Moody’s biannual report of the Israeli economy was quite positive.  Basically, the report saw no pressures on Israel’s credit rating.  While the macro data remains strong, Israel still faces a complex geopolitical situation further complicated by upcoming elections (we pondered about how crazy that is in an earlier muse).  And Israeli’s inflation rate for the first half of 2026 fell to a historic five year low of 1.2% (vs Canada’s 2.6%).   As for my own pocketbook.  Haven’t had an infamous Israeli bank overdraft in years.  So all is fine. 

If that’s not enough economic voodoo talk for one musing.  According to one famous barometer.  Israel moved to second place in the Economist’s Big Mac Index.  Introduced in 1986, this tasty indicator compares the purchasing power parity across countries by measuring the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac -which most can relate to- against the benchmark U.S. burger.  So while a Big Mac in the U.S. costs $6.22.  In Israel it costs $7.67, the second most expensive place to buy the hamburger in the world,  Switzerland being the most pricey at a whopping (no reference to Wendy’s) $9.04.  While the cheapest Big Mac can be enjoyed in Indonesia at only $2.38.  Canada ranked 22^nd of the fifty-four countries considered, at $5.85.  Parity.  Smarity.  I’m going for my Big Mac fix.  Just after I finish writing this muse….

(August 11, 2026) Bravo Boy George.  We certainly will dance again!  And what better way than with his new reggae tune.  Now Boy George is dealing with a hostile backlash against his just stand for Israel.  Having to withdraw from London’s East End production of Jesus Christ Superstar where he was going to play – guess it.  King Herod.  Never a big Culture Club fan, but I am anyway -as a sign of support- going to download his greatest hits to my Spotify library.  And hoping to have a chance to buy a concert ticket should Boy George perform in Israel.  Kind of reminds me of Bob Dylan’s 1983 song Neighborhood Bully.  Also in defense of Israel.  I’m going to download that song as well.  Although don’t think he was hounded the way Boy George is now.  Sign of the times I guess.

+++++

Coming clean.  I sometimes find myself chanting, to no one in particular, that snappy little ditty ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’  Now why can’t we come up with something as catchy. With such an impressive gene pool of great Jewish songwriters. George Gershwin. Irving Berlin.  Burt Bacharach.  Carole King.  Neil Diamond.  Leanard Choen.  Paul Simon.  Gene Simmons, Amy Winehouse.  Bob Dylan.  And yes, even the Buddhist Boy George.  And still… gurnish!  No wonder we’re losing the global PR battle

(August 8, 2026) Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem.  Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black.  Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat.  For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos.  With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café.  While shouting ‘Shabbos!  Shabbos!’   Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas.  So the wife and I thought we would check it out.  And.  Yes.  Buy something to support the business.  Uproar.  Not.  Blocked entrances.  Not.  Storming the café.  Not.  Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers.  The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews.  Mostly teenagers.   And yes.  Shouting ‘Shabbos!  Shabbos!’  Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem.  Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed.  If you do, you’re misinformed.”  But I did enjoy my iced matcha.

(August 6, 2026) Here we go again.  Another round of forever negotiations.  As someone who negotiates for a living.  The way things are going in the straits.  If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire.  Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well.  I would choose the latter.

(August 3) Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head.  For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party.  No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl.  Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections.  Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold.  In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system.  To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies.  Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26^th national election – five of them held since 2019. 

(August 1) Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy.  Neither really trusts the other.  And American military action, or its threat, continues.  I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison.  Possibly this weekend.  Yikes!  Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room.  Bottled water.  Canned food.  Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….

If it’s crazy here.  It’s insane in Italy.  With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area.  Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels.  The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected.  Although they deny involvement?!  This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy.  I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.

Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York.   But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic.  Maybe Mandami should be arrested!  Or at least impeached.  For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.

Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS

Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.

As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?

Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?

Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.

Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:

Bruce Brown.  Canadian born.  Now living in Israel (for a long time).  Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night.  He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025.  And wrote the1998 satire, “An Israeli is….”.   Bruce’s visuals are AI-assisted and created with ChatGPT under his inimitable visual concept and creative direction.  Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal.  With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic, irreverent and mischievous insights.

Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN About a month ago I received an email from a publicist about a new book titled The Rebbe of Baton Rouge.
Now, I should explain that even though I’m now officially retired as publisher of The Jewish Post I still receive loads of emails inviting me to review new books. Unfortunately, most of the titles seem to fall into one of two categories: Either self-help books or books about the Holocaust. I usually don’t even open those emails.
But, when I received this particular email – whose title alone intrigued me (“Review copy: the Rebbe of Baton Rouge”), I decided to read the email.
Here’s what it said:
“Dear Bernie,
“I hope you’ll consider The Rebbe of Baton Rouge for review or feature coverage in The Jewish Post and News. It’s a new Southern-Jewish novel from University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, out this October.
“Anna Zisk, a Yiddish literature professor, flees a scandal in Boston and moves back into her childhood home in Baton Rouge. Adam Kluger is the new rabbi in town, trying to hold together a shrinking congregation in a city with barely enough Jews to fill a high school gym. His ex-fiancée left him at the altar, a rival synagogue is picking off his members, and he’s being haunted by a Yiddish-speaking ghost. Then he starts falling for Anna.
“It’s a funny, fast-moving rom-com that’s also about faith, belonging, and what holds a small community together.
“The authors, Jennifer Anne Moses and Stuart Green, lived in Baton Rouge for years and raised their three children there. Jennifer has written nine previous books, including the memoir Bagels and Grits: A Jew on the Bayou. Stuart is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers.
“I’d be glad to send a PDF or print review copy or arrange an interview with the authors. Thank you for considering it.”
I responded to the publicist:
“This sounds interesting – a bit of a distraction from the endless series of Holocaust books that we’re usually asked to consider reviewing.
“You can send me a pdf of the book and I’ll take a look at it – no promises.”

In short order I received a pdf of The Rebbe of Baton Rouge – and wow – was this one ever good!
The problem is, after you’ve finished reading what’s about to be a glowing review, you’re going to have a tough time buying this book. From what I can see, it’s available only through Amazon so far – and even though Amazon says it’s just a paperback, it’s priced at $42.66 (I assume that’s in Canadian dollars because I looked for it on Amazon Canada.)
Putting aside the cost of the book, however, I want to tell you why I was so thoroughly entertained by this book – and why I think it will interest Winnipeg Jews in particular.
The story is set mostly in Baton Rouge, which I discovered is a relatively small city (only about 225,000 population) – with a very small Jewish population (only about 1500).
From the way it’s described in the book, anyone considering moving there would have to think twice before doing that. It’s very humid, is infested with mosquitoes – and, at the time the book was set (which is 2016), it was prime MAGA territory.
The two principal protagonists in the book, a Yiddish studies professor named Anna Zisk, and a Reform rabbi named Adam Kluger, both end up in Baton Rouge – although neither one by choice.
Anna has become entangled in an embarrassing affair with one of her male grad students in a Boston college – and when the affair ends at Anna’s insistence, the grad student launches a sexual harassment campaign against Anna, which forces her to leave Boston and head back home to Baton Rouge, which is where she is from and where her family still lives.
Rabbi Kluger, on the other hand, is looking for a pulpit of his own – even though he’s had a prior successful career working as a programmer for Google. He’s also decided to break off a relationship with a woman he says he loves, Deborah, because she wouldn’t even consider moving with him to the boonies – in this case, Baton Rouge.
Now, that particular aspect of the story really resonated with me. Here we have a rabbi who doesn’t really want to move to a community which is looking for a new rabbi (after the previous rabbi has died suddenly), but he figures he’ll take the position – until something better turns up.
Frankly, given the fact that neither Anna nor Adam is looking forward to living in Baton Rouge – for different reasons, I was expecting the book to turn into a typical rom com where two ill-starred people find love by being thrust together in unfortunate circumstances.
But The Rebbe of Baton Rouge isn’t that kind of book – much to my delight – and surprise. Sure, Anna and Adam do connect – although I won’t ruin the surprise by telling you what happens in the end, but their connection is more a result of their both respecting one another and having an honest appreciation of the plight that has led both of them to Baton Rouge. (Anna is actually pursued by a handsome Jewish doctor in Baton Rouge, while Adam’s former girlfriend is also quite beautiful – and still cares for him deeply, so it’s not as if Anna and Adam are two losers thrown together after having been rejected by others). They both need to decide whether they are willing to make certain concessions for the sake of ending up just “comfortable,” rather than truly fulfilled.
What I especially appreciated was the manner in which Rabbi Adam especially, comes to find the charm of serving as a rabbi to a small, and very unfunded congregation, so rewarding. There’s a complication to his position though: While he’s the rabbi of a very small Reform congregation, the rabbi of the only other Reform congregation in Baton Rouge, whose membership is much larger, has his sights set on absorbing the members of the smaller congregation into his own.
And frankly – it makes total sense for the two congregations to merge. (Now, haven’t we seen this same scenario played out in Winnipeg?) In fact, a major part of the book is taken up with Rabbi Adam seeking a better paying position elsewhere in the U.S. (in this case, Santa Barbara) because he’s very concerned his own congregation is about to be swallowed up by the larger congregation – and he’s worried that he will end playing second fiddle to a dominant, longer serving rabbi.
As for Anna, she tries to make the best of a bad situation by accepting a temporary position teaching English composition to the members of the Louisiana State University football team – which provides both some comic relief, but also puts her into another embarrassing situation when she is accused of becoming too close with the star of the football team – even though her intentions are totally above board (and so are the football star’s).
Through into the mix an intriguing sub plot about a Hasid ghost who appears every so often in Rabbi Adam’s life – to offer sage advice when Adam is at his lowest points. There is an explanation for why the ghost appears, but I wont’ spoil it here.
One other thing – the book is full of Yiddishkeit. Each chapter has a Yiddish title (there’s a glossary at the end in case you don’t understand the words) and there’s a fair bit of Yiddish sprinkled throughout the book. (After all, Anna is a Yiddish professor – not that she uses Yiddish in her everyday speech. It just gives the book a real “haimish” feel.)

I ought to mention something about the authors: Jennifer Anne Moses and Stuart Green. Jennifer Moses is an accomplished novelist (having written seven previous works of fiction, along with two memoirs), while Stuart Green is a Rutgers law professor who’s also written several books on the law. They began writing The Rebbe of Baton Rouge together during the Covid epidemic. It’s their first jointly written book.
The dialogue in the book is sharp and well informed. It’s clear that Jennifer Moses has honed her craft – and while I was expecting the book to be full of clichés about a rabbi and a congregant having to ward off their physical attractiveness to one another – which is the primary theme of that annoying American show about a rabbi and a non-Jewish woman falling in love in “Nobody Wants This,” this book makes offers much deeper insights into many of the challenges 30 and 40 something Jews face today, including choosing careers over relationships, and the difficulty of finding meaningful relationships in the first place.
And, as for getting a rabbi to move to the boondocks – well Baton Rougers, have you ever heard of Winnipeg?

The Rebbe of Baton Rouge
By Jennifer Anne Moses and Stuart Green
Published by University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2026
202 pages
Available on Amazon