| Passover 2024 - 1 May 2024 |
| We had another wonderful holiday here at the ancestral home of the Foxes. Deena and her family and Renana came in from DC. (Brooke couldn’t come because she is on deployment in Bahrain.). Renana and Deena did a huge amount of cooking, and we had both seders at our house. The first night Avi and her family and Reva came over, and the second night Louis, Josh and Jenna, and Zena were with us. On Friday night we had another big dinner with the Wolfs and Josh and Jenna. . . .(more) |
| The Crater - 19 March 2024 |
| Avi and I just got back from a trip down to Mitspe Ramon, a little town in the Negev desert. The town sits on the edge of an enormous crater which is called Makhtesh Ramon. The views from the town are very impressive, but neither of us had ever been down inside the crater, so this time we arranged a guide, who took us all around the place in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. He was very knowledgeable, and gave fascinating explanations of the geology and the flora and fauna. His name is Effie P . . .(more) |
| Connections - 24 February 2024 |
| Avi and I are staying in a Jerusalem neighborhood called Baka. On the edge of the neighborhood, towards the center of the city, there is a group of large houses called "The German Colony". Since we are very close to the colony, I wanted to learn a little about its origin. It turns out that it was founded in the late 19th century by a group of Germans whose ideas had gradually distanced them more and more from the norms of Lutheranism. They believed that the second coming of the messiah was immi . . .(more) |
| A Different Jerusalem - 25 January 2024 |
| Some of our life here is similar to what it has been on other visits. I am studying Talmud and Halakha at the Conservative Yeshiva. As in previous years, Avi and I have an apartment which we got through Airbnb, and it is in Baka, close to other places we have stayed recently. But a number of things are different. First, and most obviously, there is a war going on, and though it does not affect daily life here very much, you do see posters and demonstrations, mostly calling fo . . .(more) |
| Back Again in Jerusalem - 18 January 2024 |
| The last month was very stressful. I will omit the details, but I had a worrisome health problem, frozen pipes in my house, and a last minute flight cancellation. However, despite it all, I made it here to Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. Avi and I are staying here until April 1. We have a wonderful Airbnb in Baka. Avi is volunteering as a pathologist at Hadassah Ain Kerem, and I will be taking classes at the Conservative Yeshiva, starting next week. Though life . . .(more) |
| Thanksgiving 2023 - 27 November 2023 |
| Thanksgiving is the best holiday in the year - it’s the one time when all my daughters and their families come to Chicago and crowd into my house. All ten of us are under one roof together. When my daughters were growing up we would share a lot of holiday meals with Bev’s sister Peggy and her family. Because Peggy and Louis lived in Wilmette, and we wouldn’t drive on Jewish holidays, those meals were mostly at our house. But we could drive on Thanksgiving, so Peggy made . . .(more) |
| Finally Back in Barcelona - 7 November 2023 |
| Last April I was all set to make my annual visit to Catalunya but it turned out that I needed to start treatment for my lymphoma, so I had to cancel my trip. Now that the treatment is over and I can travel again, I decided to get in a quick trip between the annual Neo-Aramaic conference and Thanksgiving. So here I am, visiting friends and wandering the city. Mostly I have stayed in town, but I did make a couple of little excursions: I went out to see Lou Hevly and his wife Ro . . .(more) |
| Istanbul - 28 October 2023 |
| I’m in this beautiful and fascinating city to attend a conference on Neo-Aramaic. This is the first time that the conference has been held here, and the first time I have been in Turkey. I began my visit with a group tour of some of the most famous sites, including the Sultanahmet mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Grand Bazaar. Renana and Brooke were here recently and recommended the guide. He was great and I learned a lot about the city and its history. The . . .(more) |
| A Trip East - 15 October 2023 |
| I’m near the end of a quick trip East to visit my daughters and grandchildren. It has been, as always, delightful. I started in Philadelphia with Tamar, Jesse, Adira, and Hawthorne. Tamar and I had some nice opportunities to talk and walk through her neighborhood, which is more attractive and interesting every time I visit. Then I took the train down to D.C. to visit Renana, Deena, Andrew, Boaz, and Merav. Today we went to the Planet Word Museum, which is a big collection . . .(more) |
| Summer's End - 4 September 2023 |
| has come. I hesitate to write a blog post when I have so little to say, but since I have been silent for some time, I think I should give a sign of life. I have spent the last few months here at home, with the exception of a day trip with Tamar to Milwaukee for my nephew Nathaniel’s high school graduation, and a long weekend with Avi in New York for Daniel and Morgan’s civil wedding. Avi and I stayed on the Upper West Side, and besides celebrating, we walked in the park, ro . . .(more) |
| Birthdays - 2 August 2023 |
| Once again it's August 2, the birthday of both my father, Arnold Fox, and my wife, Beverly Fried Fox. I was the point where their lives came to intersect, and the years we all shared were a time of joy. Both of them are now gone from this world, but I love them still, and think of them every day. |
| Another Weekend in the Country - 25 June 2023 |
| It's now nine years since the first time that my daughters and I rented a house in the country and spent a long summer weekend there together. This weekend we returned to the same house we have rented for the last four or five years. It's in a particularly beautiful part of south-east Pennsylvania, and it is easy to get to both from DC and from Philadelphia. . We cooked and ate, we put together enormous jigsaw puzzles, we ran and swam and played frisbee, we sang, and most of al . . .(more) |
| In the Park - 20 June 2023 |
| Yesterday as I was walking through Indian Boundary Park I came across an African Spurred Tortoise that was close to two feet long. I had a nice conversation with her owner, who said that when the weather is nice he likes to take her over to the park and let her wander around. I neglected to ask her name. |
| A Joey - 17 May 2023 |
| Robert Smith Surtees (1805 - 1864) was the author of some tremendously popular novels. His books were about fox-hunting Englishmen, and are full of vivid humorous characters. His biggest success was a rich Cockney grocer named Jorrocks who has taken on the management of the fox-hounds in a little spa town called Handley Cross. I first read his book about Jorrocks decades ago, and I’m now going back over it. I usually have no trouble with the language in Victorian novels, but S . . .(more) |
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