Life of Spud

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, which is also referred to as “MarCheshvan,” was on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. In conversation with a friend, I found out that there are actually a couple of different reasons for this nickname. In my Jewish education, I had learned that the prefix “Mar” was from the Hebrew word for “bitter” (like the “Maror” that we eat on Pesach to recall the bitterness of slavery in Egypt). It is applied to Cheshvan because, unlike the month of Tishrei before it and the month of Kislev that follows it, Cheshvan contains no Jewish holidays. As a result, either we – the Jewish people – or the month itself, are a bit more bitter than (in) those other months. But my friend shared with me the explanation that he had learned in his Jewish education. He had been taught that the word “Mar” is from the Hebrew word for “Mister” (like, “Hashchunah shel Mar Rogers” the Hebrew version of Mr. Roger’s Nieghborhood). It is applied to Cheshvan as a title of respect because, unlike ...

Mining the weekly Torah portion for insight into educational leadership. A few months back I embarked on a search for my next leadership opportunity in Jewish education - and soon afterwards I found myself at Mens' Wearhouse in search of some new suits.  You see, for the last five years I have lived in Israel and South Florida, environments and cultures that tend to punish/shun suit-wearers. And in that time my suits had become obsolete (and outgrown), so I bought some new ones for my inevitable interviews elsewhere in the United States. Now I've been told by many people that I "clean up well" and I even had it as my personal tagline in my email signature ("Avi Spodek - He cleans up well"). But it was only after I sat through Skype interviews in a suit (at least the top half) that I became mindful of the impact that my appearance had on me and cognizant of its influence on those who saw me. Not ten minutes earlier I was walking around the house in shor...