Author Archives: jik

Jewish Unity in the 21st Century

I grew up the son of a Conservative rabbi in the Twin Cities. The local Orthodox rabbi was not only a member (with my father) of the non-denominational Minnesota Rabbinical Council, he also served as its president. He cooperated with the city’s Conservative rabbis in supervision of a local bakery to ensure that there would… Read More »

FUD on Israel attacking Iran

In his weekly opinion column on August 22, M.J. Rosenberg argues that Israel would endanger Jews living outside of Israel by attacking Iran. Furthermore, he rattles off a frightening laundry list of negative outcomes which he claims would result from such an attack: “An Israeli attack on Iran—absent an imminent threat of attack from Iran—is… Read More »

Fascinating phishing attack — the links are fine, but watch out for the toll-free number!

A phishing message in my spam folder caught my eye today, so I decided to take a closer look at it. It claimed to be from CapitalOne.  It had a legitimate sender address, a legitimate Subject line (“Please Call Us Regarding Recent Restrictions”), and convincing-looking content that was mostly lifted straight from a real CapitalOne… Read More »

Destined for happiness

Sighted downtown today, a young couple holding hands, with “matching” T-shirts. Hers: “I always get what I want.” His: “It’s all about me.” This pair is surely destined for a long, happy life together.  

A present I would rather have done without

There has been a polite little family of mice sharing our house, aside from the domesticated variety safely ensconced in their aquarium. I call them polite because they never left droppings anywhere in plain sight, and because they resisted all human food, confining their snacking to the commercial mouse food in our bathroom closet and… Read More »

Too clever by half, then not clever enough

Upon our arrival in Cleveland last Friday afternoon after a three-day drive from Boston, we hastily emptied the car before the start of the Sabbath.  Imagine my dismay to discover that the duffel bag containing all of my clothes was missing!  I had put my clothes for the trip in my backpack, so that I… Read More »

Target vs. Dillard’s

Several years ago, a Target store opened near us in Watertown, Massachusetts.  Having grown up in Minneapolis, I had fond memories of Target and hoped that this meant we would finally have a tolerable department store near us. To say that I’ve been disappointed by our local Target would be a monumental understatement.