Saturday, April 20, 2013

Shabbat Kedoshim: A Top 10 List

Photo:  www.judaicaneedlepoint.com
10.  Waiting for a bus for almost 20 minutes and still making it to services before Ma Tovu.

9.  Worshiping with my minyan community (including Dr. Tamara Eshkenazi, who is visiting on the east coast) -- despite the exceedingly noisy and wall-shaking construction in the street in front of Temple Shaaray Tefila.

8.  Singing Psalm 150 using Leonard Cohen's haunting melody.

7.  Hearing the Haftarah chanted and reading it round-robin style--as is our minhag--in English.

6.  An especially chewy cinnamon-raisin bagel during Torah study.

5.  Interesting, engaging discussion about talebearers, lashon hara employment references and sins of omission vs. sins of commission.

4.  A refreshing Dunkin' coconut iced coffee on the way home--with lots of ice and just the right amount of milk.

3.  Time to read today's newspaper leisurely.

2.  Time to continue to plow through Les Miserables and find out more about Fantine, Cosette and Monsieur Madeleine, who I think is a.k.a. Jean Valjean, but being only 175 pages into the tale, I'm not quite sure yet.  No spoilers, please...

1.  Time, inspiration and inclination to write and post this list before a little Shabbat menucha (Sabbath rest)!

Shabbat shalom!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

No April 2 Redux

Dear The Mums,

Today is April 2.  Three years ago it was a Friday.  We were three days into counting the omer and Barbara Kline Shapiro's father had just died. His funeral was that morning and Daddy went, which meant that I was at the hospital by myself when Dr. S. told me, using his less-than-perfect bedside manner, that the metastatic breast cancer that had resulted in a pelvic fracture that was causing you such excruciating pain was all over your body--in your bones, in your liver and in your lungs.  Of course you were there, too, but the Fentanyl made you loopy and you sort of drifted in and out.  Lucky for me, Elliott and Shira showed up sometime during that morning and then I wasn't alone anymore.

Interestingly, on this year's April 2, I attended the first-ever benefit screening of "Decoding Annie Parker," a not-yet-released feature film about the discovery of the BRCA1 gene. Lucky for me, it was right here in New York at the Directors Guild Theater on the west side. Additional screenings -- sponsored by the The Basser Research Center for BRCA -- are scheduled for this fall in other cities, including Los Angeles on September 17 and Philadelphia on October 2.

The film traces the life of Annie Parker, who lost her mother and her sister to breast cancer before she herself battled both breast and ovarian cancer.  Even as Annie fought these diseases, convinced there was a genetic link within her family,  Dr. Mary-Claire King and her research team were working feverishly to connect the dots within families like Annie's, where breast cancer is present in more than one generation. Of course, in the end, they did just that and, with their discovery of the BRCA1 gene, made one of the most significant cancer breakthroughs of our time.

For many of us in the audience tonight, Annie Parker's story is our story.  It's my story and, although you didn't ever know it, it's your story, too. I'm indebted to Annie Parker for allowing it to be told and to Steve Bernstein, the producer, for telling it so well.  I am hopeful, too, that if enough people see Annie's story and the Basser Center is successful in its work, fewer families ever will have to endure an April 2 like the one we endured just a few short years ago.

Miss you....xoxo,
~ Boo!