At Friday night Shabbat services last week, the Cantor (who was filling in for the rabbi) read a sermon prepared by Rabbi Ben Spratt. While the sermon eventually focused on the torah portion for the week, it started off discussing silence or more specifically, the extreme lack of it. Everywhere [Read More]
This past Monday--March 20- marked the ten-year anniversary of the International Day of Happiness. Evidently, it was created by a United Nations Resolution passed at its 118th plenary meeting on June 28, 2012, declaring March 20th of each year to be the holiday. As one might guess, the resolution was [Read More]
As we all know, mediation has become quite popular if not ubiquitous over the last twenty years. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, it was slowly gaining acceptance; in the last twenty years, it has truly become THE alternative to litigation. (No doubt, the pandemic with its lockdowns creating the necessity [Read More]
Whenever I see an article on implicit bias, I must read and write about it. This time, the article is entitled, “Embedded bias: How medical records sow discrimination” by Darius Tahir of Kaiser Health News. The theme of the article is that doctors unconsciously (or perhaps even consciously) write notes [Read More]
The Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 27, 2022, was more than just entertaining: it provided an important lesson on apologies. When Chris Rock came forward to present the award for Best Documentary Feature, he joked about seeing Jada Pinkett Smith (wife of Will Smith) in G. I Jane 2 [Read More]
The New York Times on August 1, 2020 published an article on microaggressions in the medical profession. (“For Doctors of Color, Microaggressions Are All Too Familiar” by Emma Goldberg). While the article does focus on doctors of color, it does have broader applicability, to anyone or any group who is [Read More]
Several weeks ago, The New York Times published an article about one of my favorite topics: Active Listening. Entitled “Practice Better Listening” by Kate Murphy,(Sunday, May 17, 2020, At Home section) the author notes that with life moving at a much slower pace these days, we have the opportunity and [Read More]
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 16,1858 Like most of you, I have been paying much attention to the protests by Black Lives Matter in response to the death of George Floyd ; as I write this, the protests have been occurring all over [Read More]
