Jewels 2012

Thank you for being a part of our 8th year of Jewels of Elul. I hope that you found the Jewels from the past 29

What makes us different from or better than God’s other creatures? A cheetah is faster, a butterfly more beautiful, and a lion mightier by far.

In my early twenties, I read an interview with Lillian Hellman. Midway through, Hellman became irate, brandishing her cane in the interviewer’s face. I thought:

ELUL – the alliteration of this beautiful word evokes love. The word is composed of the first letters of the phrase from the biblical Song

Judaism is all about life – love of life, reverence for life, building new life. But life also brings death. The pessimist says, “You begin

As a physician and scientist, I have seen remarkable aging. The patients whom I care for, often with severe physical disabilities, experience a process termed

I don’t really like to think about growing older, I like being 9. If I get older I will be like my grandpa and become

My whole life I have been drawn to elders. From grandparents in New York and San Francisco, to great aunts and uncles around America and

At my high school prom many decades ago, the organizers chose Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” as the theme. I thought it was

I have gained perspective on the art of aging over the last decade of my 74 years. The gift of perspective is, in a word, “gratitude”-

We live in especially youth-centric times when the “Art of Aging” most often refers to the kind of superficial rejuvenation found at the cosmetics counter

Thanks to advances in modern medicine and lifestyle, most Americans will survive the diseases that once killed us swiftly and predictably—infections, childbirth, cancer, heart disease—and

In a dilapidated log cabin, near a cornfield, there lived an old farmer. He had lived in the same place for so long that he

Write a letter. Address it to those you love – your spouse, your children and grandchildren, your friends. Put into this letter everything life has taught

I have for many years wondered whether, as I grow old, I should fight against it or gracefully and passively accept it. The poet Dylan

My beautiful, wonderful grandmother was, in the end, in a cancer existence. The illness was eating her inside. She lost her ability to speak to

Whatever controls my genetic material, I’m happy to be enjoying the dessert course of life, and my pressures are self-chosen. I realize more than ever

My son was nestled in my lap last night, slumbering at last, while I trolled the Internet for entertainment. Somewhere in a moment between status

Recently I had a conversation with someone who said to me, “You wrote a very beautiful book; it’s very uplifting and encouraging. However, isn’t there

The “art of aging” translates for me into the art of acceptance and gratitude. Considering the alternative to aging makes clear our only viable response.

More than a decade ago, the equally celebrated and despised bioethicist Leon Kass published “L’Chaim and Its Limits: Why Not Immortality?”, a passionate homage, couched

Two years ago on my 79th birthday, I experienced two things. One was ‘feeling’ a very large hand placed between my shoulder blades, gently but

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Playing the trumpet since I was eight years old has given me

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.” -Eleanor Roosevelt As a five-year-old I thought life would be

This is a conversation between two generations. Eli Brent is 86 and I am Noah Taubman, 24-years-old and his grandson. “I don’t want to be

Old? You think I’m old? Well, maybe you’re right. Why, I remember walking into ‘shul’ on a Friday evening and finding people eager to “DAVEN.”

Poppy is four years old. The only shelf in the cabinet she can reach is the one with the plastic Tupperware. She has started filling

Age has been on my mind all my life. When I was a kid I had a giant shock of black hair that was like

Aging: a fearsome word in a youth-obsessed culture. The desired stage of life, youth, is depicted as threatened by the aging process. Granted; youthfulness, with

As we age, our brains are hardwired to reject change. We are conditioned to resist new challenges and remain within our comfort zones. However, growing

“An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing…” So wrote Yeats in

A Note from Craig Dear Friends, Thank you for joining us on this 29 day Holy Journey. I am excited to share with you this