Healthcanc

Ordinarily I wouldn't get started on this, knowing that it is likely to upset at least one reader. But because some of you will propose theses for doctorates and masters degrees, it feels like the right thing to do, open up a topic for further study. Also, this is Purim Torah. And despite what's going on in the world, I'm in a better mood. Purim isn't the topic for further study, not unless you're Jewish and like studying up on stories from days of old. But the story is about genocide, which is related to racism, and racism affects our mental health because (a) it hurts and provides people with excuses (bad ones) to kill, and (b) racists sometimes tell bad jokes. Purim is one of those, the joke's on you , holidays. The story is a tale of monumental reversal, salvation, victory, fasting, love, sexual exploitation, and plots inside the kingdom. We're talking Persia, 369 BCE. Briefly: The Persians beat the Babylonians, and Jews exiled from Jerusalem by the Baby...

I'm talking to an older man today, working through some of his grief issues, and he looks up and says, "And this thing in Belgium doesn't help." Solidarity with Brussels What thing in Belgium? It was one of those mornings-- on the phone when I would normally hear the news driving to work. Missed it. The grief patient tells me about the terrorist attack, that it hit the airport, the train. Public trans, soft targets. I don't tell him that I have been in Brussels Airport, that I've slept there, prayed there. A long stop-over, going home from someplace else. It is an odd feeling, knowing that this is a hotbed of anti-Jewish feeling, and that Belgium opened its doors wide to its enemies, welcomed them. They have cots at the airport, and quiet places to think. Memories of a different chapel for each faith, too, along with your typical book and magazine vendors. We buy small toys, candy. There's a crowd at the terminal, attendants in red, things are clean. At th...