Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
July 25-26, 2025 • 1 Av 5785 • Matos-Masai (Num 30-36).
In memory of Dovid ben Eliezer.
In memory of Dovid ben Eliezer.
Thank you for all the positive feedback on the new teachers website.
This week, for the twentieth time in late July or early August, I have to speak about my late father zl in the past tense.
Anyone who ever lost a loved one knows the feeling. During shiva you're still talking about them in the present tense. It takes weeks or months to get used to using the past tense.
His death twenty years ago this week (on the Jewish calendar) was so sudden, violent, and young (65) that the Pierce County newspaper editors were moved to write a rare editorial-obituary.
Headline: We've Lost One of the Good Guys
I think that my mother summed him up best when she asked that his epitaph read, "Champion of Justice".
In that spirit, when we made a donation to our shul in his memory, we asked for the plaque to read, "One who chased tzedakah, loved Jews, and honored all creatures."
It seems to me that an epitaph is like a eulogy — it should at the end of the day inspire the rest of us to a higher sense of being and purpose.
Question for your table: What would you want your epitaph to say in order to inspire others about your life?
Shabbat Shalom
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This week, for the twentieth time in late July or early August, I have to speak about my late father zl in the past tense.
Anyone who ever lost a loved one knows the feeling. During shiva you're still talking about them in the present tense. It takes weeks or months to get used to using the past tense.
His death twenty years ago this week (on the Jewish calendar) was so sudden, violent, and young (65) that the Pierce County newspaper editors were moved to write a rare editorial-obituary.
Headline: We've Lost One of the Good Guys
I think that my mother summed him up best when she asked that his epitaph read, "Champion of Justice".
In that spirit, when we made a donation to our shul in his memory, we asked for the plaque to read, "One who chased tzedakah, loved Jews, and honored all creatures."
It seems to me that an epitaph is like a eulogy — it should at the end of the day inspire the rest of us to a higher sense of being and purpose.
Question for your table: What would you want your epitaph to say in order to inspire others about your life?
Shabbat Shalom
Appreciated this Table Talk? Like it, tweet it, forward it....
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