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Let’s Get Personal
Parshat Lech Lecha 5780It was the perfect day. Jack had been dating Emily for three years, and he was finally going to pop the question! The setting could not have been more stunning; on a clifftop overlooking the Pacific ocean, at sunset, in a white wooden gazebo, with sheer lavender silk drapes wafting in the breeze, a waterfall […]
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How Much Technical Debt do You Have?
Parshat Noach 5780You’re having dinner in middle of February, and your furnace blows. The house slowly starts getting colder, and you call the HVAC guy who tries to troubleshoot it over the phone. When nothing works, he promises to come right away, but warns you that there will be a after-hours service charge add-on, he too was […]
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It’s all About Communication
Parshat Bereishit 5780There is a time in every baby’s life when they are smart enough to want to communicate with the outside world, but not smart enough to communicate with the outside world. This creates enormously vexing situations. Lil’ baby Numzi wants to drink wine from Daddy’s big shiny Kiddush cup, she makes clear motions indicating her […]
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Do You Have a Security Blanket?
Parshat Ha’azinu/Sukkot 5780The end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919 was a pretty good time for most of the world. For four years, the Great War had ravaged the European continent, leading to the death of close to twenty million people, and the injury of many more. On top of that, the Spanish Flu pandemic of […]
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The Robots are Coming for Your Job!
Parshat Vayelech/ Yom Kippur 5780It’s here. I knew it was coming, and I had been on the lookout for it for years, but when it finally showed up, it looked nothing like what I was expecting. What I’m talking about of course is the fully automatic hamburger maker. The machine that takes your order, makes your burger to machine […]
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Rosh Hashana Gameplan from Moscow!
Rosh Hashana 5780Moskva, Moskva… The 900 year old city sitting astride the Moskva River, with its torturous and at times glorious history, is now the second most populated city in Europe (after Istanbul). The capital of the largest country in the world, it is the cultural, scientific, political, and economic center of not only Russia, but of […]
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I’ll Save Your Life, if You Save Mine
Parshat Ki Tavo 5779This is a true story. The name has been changed.
Sasha Bazarov never had it easy. He emigrated to the USA together with his parents from Uzbekistan as a young child. His parents had to leave everything behind, and in order to be able to support the family both of them had to work all […] -
Get Out of the Car
Parshat Ki Tetzei 5779We crossed into Egypt at the Taba Border Crossing around midnight. I was exhausted, dirty, and bone weary after two utterly crazy days in Jordan, but I trudged up to passport control with resigned indifference. If it were up to me, I would have been in one of the many five star hotels in Eilat, […]
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Dorian’s Done it Again
Parshat ShoftimThere used to be four seasons a year; spring, summer, fall and winter. But these days we have created many more seasons for ourselves. There is constructions season from April to Nov, Pumpkin Spice Latte season, which had an early start this year, showing up on August 27, and will likely run through mid-December. There […]
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Last Time I Got Shot
Parshat Re’eh 5779Taking a walk in the woods can be a pretty mundane activity, but never when you are in Yosemite National Park. In Yosemite, a walk in the woods is a child’s first walk into a candy store. Every bend in the path reveals an abundance of flora and fauna, every hill crested opens up new […]
Leiby Burnham has created 169 entries
Leiby Burnham
