Unsurprisingly, both the Bible and the Talmud confront illness head on. As we know, the Torah is not squeamish about reality. Illness, intimate relations, monetary status, politics. All have pride of place in our sacred writings precisely because the Torah is a guide for life itself.

While the Israel360 lecture was going on, a great many other people were at home, glued to their television sets for the ninth Democratic primary debate, held in Nevada. But there’s another election going on, which I’ve previously talked about here, and that is the World Zionist Congress Elections.

We all know the phrase eye candy. It means something that is superficially pleasing, whether that is a movie, a sunset or a person. I like to call the television shows I watch while on the exercise bike “eye candy.” They are a treat which makes an otherwise repetitive task more enjoyable.

Most American Jews have some sort of story or connection to Israel. Some are ardent Zionists and recognize how miraculous the return to our ancient homeland is. Others have traveled there once or twice, on their own personal pilgrimage.

On the global and national stage, it has been quite a week. The Trump administration released its long delayed Middle Eastern peace plan. The Senate, meanwhile, proceeded with its role in the impeachment proceedings.

This Sunday, we will mark the close of Rabbi Joshua Stampfer’s sheloshim with an evening of prayer, music and learning. I don’t know about you, but for me it seems like a year since he passed and also just like yesterday. Our experience of time is so elastic like that—and so are the emotions, thoughts and activities that have accompanied so many of us over these past 30 days.

Earlier this week, my email was hacked. So were the emails of several other local rabbis and numerous rabbis across the country. More accurately, my email was impersonated, with a new email that looked sufficiently like the Neveh Shalom address.