U’v’tuvo mchadesh bchal yom tamid maaseh breishit: In your goodness, day after day you renew creation. Even as an infrequent worshipper, I’ve said this prayer hundreds if not thousands of times since I began taking Judaism seriously more than thirty-five years ago. I like the concept: creation is dependent on creator; the creator may choose,…

Most days he’s not there, standing just this side of the traffic light, his flimsy cardboard sign asking for help for a person down on his luck. When I do see him on my way home from big-boxville, I always pay more attention to the letters—the childish scrawl—on his sign than I do to him.…