Thanks to Rob and let's hear it for the Sox

First, let me say thanks to all who checked in during the holiday and Sabbath period.

It's the same thing next week as Jews finish out the holiday season with a two-day holiday in which the high point is the finishing of the Torah reading and restarting it. The joyous holiday of Simchas Torah marks the reading of the last passages of the Five Books of Moses and the immediate start to reading it all over again.

Not all Jews mark the holiday in that way. Some Conservative and Reform congregations use a triennial cycle in which they read the entire Torah every three years. In any case, Simchas Torah is still a joyous holiday marking the never-ending study of the law. As it did last week, the holiday goes right into the Sabbath, so work, including blogging, is forbidden from sundown Wednesday until an hour after sundown Saturday.

Page 2, or what Brown did for us

Although I try to be fair, there is enough wrong going on in the city, region, nation and world to make it seem that all I do is complain. That may not be all that far from the truth, although I hope it is for good reason other than to vent my spleen.

Last week, something so nice happened to my wife and I that I must tell you about it.

On Wednesday, we were in the last part of a frenzy of shopping and preparing for the holiday, not only at home but in our synagogue. We were to host the congregation in our Sukkah, a temporary dwelling we erect this time each year to mark the holiday of Sukkos. We had to prepare a light meal for dozens of people three days in a row. That takes a lot of stuff.

We had unloaded our cars in front of the synagogue and we ready to lug a dozen or more packages, some quite heavy or awkward, when along came Rob.

Rob works for UPS and was delivering a small package to the synagogue when he spied our challenge and immediately asked if he could help. And help he did, moving each one of these packages from the sidewalk to the front door of the synagogue. He was much younger and much more experienced in moving things than we, so he made it look easy, but saved us a lot of time and backaches with his help.

So thank you, Rob. You did a real mitzvah, a good deed. You made our load a lot lighter and our day a lot brighter.

Hurray for Rob.

Page 3

Let's hear it for the Red Sox, the American League East champions.

Yes, I know, they were 11 or 14 games in front in May or June and clinched the title and the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs at the last minute. So what? They won.

Everyone who seriously follows any kind of campaign, sport or political, knows that things tighten up as the campaign ends. So it was with the Sox. Manny was not available for 24 games, people kept hitting Youk and J.D. Drew finally woke from his season-long impersonation of Rip van Winkle. But no excuses were necessary, nor would any be offered, unlike the fans of another team I could mention who managed to snag the wild card.

I also feel for the Mets fans...been there, done that. I hope they make the playoffs...I'd love to see a game with Petey (Pedro Martinez) pitching against Josh Beckett.

Again, congrats to the Sox. Keep playing and pulling them out as you did last night (Sept. 29, 2007.)

Now the team has home-field advantage, it means that David Ortiz and Manny need to start warming up their walk-off bats. Big Poppy, you are my granddaughter's favorite player. I know it's a lot of responsibility, but you can handle it.

Until next time...