Stories I Tell

“If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again”. Groucho Marx

Whenever I feel afraid

Mia Mercado, in The New Yorker in 2018, said that the scariest part about being a human in the world today is unfortunately every part. And that was before COVID. She did offer some suggestions for dealing with the scariest things. For dealing with ghosts, render them defenseless by taking them to a Trader Joe’s where they will be distracted…

My mom and dad

My dad was born in 1922, my mom in 24, both first generation Americans. They met at Camp Kindervelt when they were 16 and 14. Dad fought in the war with the 101st mechanized cavalry which was the advanced troops, the scouts. So he was there when some of the camps were liberated, and saw most of his fellow soldiers…

My grandfather died at my wedding

It was quite an event. My grandfather was a great man. Abraham Jacob Viniar. Known as Yakov. He fled the czar, was educated for a while in Belgium, and ended up in NYC speaking Russian, Yiddish, Flemish, with a smattering of English. He went to Cooper Union, doing his work every night with a dictionary until he graduated. He served…

A story for Parashat Shemot, the burning bush

I was tending the flock of my father-in-law. I drove the flock into the wilderness, and I came to a beautiful  mountain. Whoa, it looked like there was something  in a blazing fire out of a bush. I looked, I gazed, and there was that bush all aflame, but the bush was not being consumed.  I said to myself, “I…