It is hard to believe that exactly five months ago, I was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.    But I am not at all central to the story.

Yes, climbing the 19,341 mountain is a bucket list item and is a physical and mental challenge.  Yes, 27 people climbed together and managed to observe Shabbat, kashrut and even carry a torah scroll to be read during weekday and Sabbath prayers.  Yes, we had the support of 3 cooks, 11 guides and 70 porters.  Yes, mileage ranged from 3.1 miles on the acclimation days, to 13.7 miles as we hiked through the night to the summit

But the central “characters” of the story are the 4 extraordinary climbers from from Montana in the US, Texas (by way of Peru), Israel and Tanzania—Starla, Marcela, Arnon and Arnold are great conversationalists, fun people, funny, fun to be with, and also people with paraplegia.   They, and the Trekker (by Paratrek), a durable vehicle designed by Omer Tsur (and his paralyzed dad), where the central people on the climb.  The other 23 were supporting actors, learning about FAISR, Friends of Access Israel’s motto, “Accessible Together.”   

Several of us have the honor of sharing the story of our journey with Ramaz Alumni Virtual Campus on Zoom tomorrow.  We have intentionally called our presentation, “Accessible Together:   The Conquering of Mount Kilimanjaro with Paraplegia and Other Different Abilities.    I will share the story of the four climbers who have extraordinary abilities, and also have paraplegia.

If you’d like the Zoom link, please reach out to me.  The presentation is Wednesday, July 8, at 8 PM EDT

What a great day!   We are almost 2 hours in to 12 hours of free video coverage of Fare Thee Well!

This weekend marks the 5^th anniversary of the famous Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead reunion in Chicago.  As Relix associate editor, Raffaela Kenny-Cincotta noted in her recent “3 from the 7” podcast, “the videos of the shows have been living in Peter Shapiro’s vault.”  Today, the videos of the 3 shows are being livestreamed for all to enjoy, free of charge, from noon til midnight today.  There is full concert footage as well as parking lot, Shakedown Street and more.

 I was lucky enough to be there—to see the historic shows, and to write an article for JTA and other publications about Jam Shalom and their crew who love traditional Jewish observance as much as they enjoy music festivals.  The editor chose the clever title, “Touch of Pray:  Celebrating Shabbat and the Grateful Dead.

My biggest challenge for today?  How to get in as much concert watching as possible during a day of tutoring and other meetings.

Enjoy!

I come from a family where birthdays are nice but they aren’t the absolute biggest deal in the world.  A meaningful birthday would be receiving some nice handmade birthday cards, perhaps a nice sweet treat, and most importantly, secretly telling the family chef what we’d like for our “special Shabbat dinner” on the upcoming Friday.   In contrast, there are people and families where each and every birthday is HUGE!  Everyone for miles knows about it, brings gifts, calls and emails, decorates doors or even puts up lawn signs.

Some people also enjoy people acknowledging their birthdays on Facebook.  For years, I smiled happily when people wished Happy Birthday on Facebook.   I was happy when I got over 100 birthday wishes on an average year.  But I didn’t personally write back to each person, and I didn’t check daily to see who was celebrating a birthday that day.

This year, I vowed to do better.  Every day for the past three months—since my last birthday—I have made my first appointment “FB Bdays.”  As soon as I turn on my computer early each morning, I go to Facebook, check birthdays, and wish each friend a happy birthday. 

I assume it makes them happy.  I have found it a wonderful way to check in with each and every Facebook friend throughout the year—1 or 2 or 6 at a time—nearly every day of the year.  It is heartwarming to connect with very old friends, and sometimes just a drop embarrassing when we can’t exactly remember who a certain person is.  While making it through an entire year of wishing friends Happy Birthday may not be as big of an accomplishment as making it through the entire Talmud in 7 years, it sure is a good feeling. 

So friends, if I haven’t wished you happy birthday yet, chances are I will—in the next 9 months.

Happy Birthday!