Irons in the Fire
or: What I've Been Up To Since I Fell Off the Edge of the Earth
It’s been a long time since my last newsletter.Â
No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, nor have I given up the art of writing. In fact, I’ve been writing more than ever, and it’s finally time to share some of my projects. Here’s hoping they interest you even a fraction as much as they excite me.
My Cancer Bible: A Rabbi’s Journey Through Cancer in a Time of Plague (working title)
When the initial shock of being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer abated, the questions only intensified. Some were practical: How do I finish a conversation without dissolving into tears? How do I juggle cancer care with teaching and being a congregational Rabbi? Others were theological: How does cancer change my relationship with God? How does a believing person approach living with cancer? How do I honestly lead a congregation when my own spiritual world is collapsing? Where do I find the language and structure to express my experiences? I looked for a book that addresses these questions but found none that satisfied me. So I decided to write the book myself, in the hope that some combination of honesty, soul-searching, Jewish sources, and humor could help others find what I had desperately needed.Â
This won’t be a fairy tale of catastrophe averted and faith strengthened. That is not my truth. It won’t read like a hospital website. Hospitals can, for their own valid reasons, make cancer sound like just a bump in the road. If I succeed, I will have written a realistic description of a cancer experience that is useful to a person of faith.
And, of course, no such book can overlook the looming shadow of COVID-19 over the entire process. Dealing with cancer during the first year of the pandemic came with some predictable and some very unpredictable differences.
The process of writing this book has been different from anything I’ve done before. It began with posts from Ketoret, diary entries, and reflections along the way. But that was just raw material that needed to be molded, supplemented, given context. The plodding sorting and expansion was made easier by a mentor assigned to me through a wonderful program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center called Visible Ink. The initial draft is now complete. My mentor thinks it likely that it will attract an agent.
The Unofficial Star Trek Haggadah
Before there was Harry Potter or the MCU…there was Star Trek. And before the Harry Potter Rabbi, there was The Star Trek Rabbi. For years I have feared to tackle this fusion of Torah and popular culture. The sheer volume of official Star Trek canon is overwhelming. But the rewards are also great. Themes like questioning authority, being an outsider, exploring the universe, seeking the stars, and being human in all its varieties, combinations, and complexities—these are but the tip of the nebula. As I work on this project, I’m getting more and more excited. I hope to share some of that excitement in future posts.
Wait, does this mean you’ve finished writing about Harry Potter?
Not by a long shot. Here’s one of the Potter projects on the horizon:
Potter and Parasha
I’ve already mentioned this project once in Ketoret, and even published a sample. It is a twist on the work I have done in combining Torah and Harry Potter in Morality for Muggles, The Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah, and The Unofficial Muggle Megillah. This time I would take a theme from each weekly Torah reading and compare and contrast the two universes. Wouldn’t it be nice to have, say, the Book of Genesis completed for this year’s reading?
More to come,
Moshe
You are a model for me of the overflowing love that needs to be at the root of teaching and all of our relationships.
What a blessing to be included in your amazing family!