I hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving break. We had a wonderful long family weekend, starting with Thanksgiving at Dave and Kelly’s house (they have more space than we do), with 20 total guests. Then, on Saturday, we celebrated our oldest grandchild’s bar mitzvah (now called a brit mitzvah).
Irrespective of what it is called, it was wonderful in every respect. It is an ancient Jewish coming-of-age ritual that requires a 13-year-old to learn to read and speak a complicated and difficult language, and to prepare a learned commentary (for a 7th grader) on the meaning and modern context of a portion of the sacred text of the Torah. It’s a struggle for anybody who goes through it, but I see it as a wonderful preparation for living a life of the mind with an ethical point of view.
Last week was primarily devoted to working on a new grant. It was initially conceived of as an R21, but I think it has enough meat to qualify as an R01, so I’ll be working on that in the coming weeks.
We snuck away for a quiet weekend in St. Michaels and had a wonderful time, despite the dreary weather. The coming week has a bunch of meetings that can’t wait until after the Christmas break, so I’ll be pretty busy!
For those celebrating Chanukah, Chag Sameach. I wish you light and peace.
Stay safe and be well.
Lou
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