I felt like a little girl in a wonderland when I showed up for my first day at work. I had gone to one of the most sophisticated and modern colleges in the country. Most classes were held off-site, but when you did visit what you saw was a hyper-modern campus. There were grass-covered buildings, […]
There are no walls in my new offices. Instead, each of my team’s desks is shaped like a donut with a seat in the middle. They make me think of the battle stations on some sci-fi star cruiser; everybody’s tools are close at hand, and there are no impediments to communication. All it takes to […]
As we come into Rosh Hashana, it is easy to be complacent as a nation. Our economy is strong, our military is strong, we are world leaders in science, and our Yeshivot are filled with students. Even as our region is filled with violence and destruction, even as millions have been driven from their homes, […]
I’ve never had such fear before. I’ve had fear – the most primal and fundamental kind of fear. But it was nothing like this. — It is the morning of May 28, 2010. I wake up to the savory smell of chole and freshly-baked kulche wafting through our room. My wife is a skilled cook. […]
My father’s body is sprawled out on his office floor. His head has been torn apart by a single gunshot. The gun is still in his hand. My father has just taken his own life. And the only explanation, the only note, is a verse. “Det 23:19.” I hate my father before. I despise his […]
I look around the truck’s cabin, with its stark, harsh interior. I see the grim faces of the men. Below us, the armored personnel carrier is shaking violently as it moves through the rough terrain. The truck’s wheels, suspension and frame seem to conduct the force of every pebble through to our spines. And we’re […]
By the time I was 40 I’d been through pretty much every sort of therapy available on planet Earth. There had been the obvious ones, like cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy and psychoanalysis. But my attempts at self-repair went deeper. I’d also done acceptance therapy, art therapy, group psychotherapy and even eye movement desensitization and reprocessing […]
The bunker is forty feet long and ten feet wide and strongly reinforced. It is a small, but important space. It is buried far beneath the earth, and it is dominated by a single long table. Above the table, a single fluorescent bulb burns. And at the head of the table stands a dark-skinned man. […]
Dear readers, Everybody reading this column knows the history. As our ability to automate expanded exponentially there was a threshold that was reached. Instead of simply opening up new and less monotonous economic opportunities, all sorts of economic opportunities began to disappear. Instead of a wide variety of people involved in the production of goods […]
The morning that changed my life started like all the others. I left the small apartment I shared with six other immigrants and made my way to work. The elevator down to the bottom floor of the building creaked as it always did. And as the door to building opened, I was greeted by the […]