Category Archives: Spirituality

Airplanes

Hayley Williams once asked “Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now…”

And then B.O.B. and Eminem chimed in with some stuff, but for this post I think I’ll just stick with the airplane thing.

For as long as I can remember, seeing airplanes take off has been a thing for me. It represents excitement, adventure… and for some reason that I’m trying to figure out, the greener grass.

No matter how good I feel I have it (and trust me, all things considered I have it really good right now) seeing an airplane flying over the Han River last night on the bus home from work got to me like it always does.

Even when we lived in the Caribbean, with the sun, warmth, and all that stuff, I felt that way.

I love the idea of travel, but in practice it’s not so glam. Probably like most people, I hate traveling on planes nowadays. It’s always a hassle more than an adventure, but I was still envious of those folks as they made their way to cruising altitude last night. And I wondered if the sun had set enough for me to mistake the jet for a shooting star…

Pop Phil

Like the pine trees lining the winding road

So I went to the Korean JCC/Chabad House to pick up a memorial candle for my grandfather who passed away last Sunday.

Luckily, there was a sign pointing the way as I meandered through the small alleyways of Itaweon to find the place.

Chabad Korea

Chabad Korea

I finally found the house (very telling as there was a Succot in the front yard), and as I walked in I saw many pairs of men’s shoes in the entryway,  I knocked on the doorframe and the Rebbe came up from the basement wearing a Talis.  I explained that I was looking for a memorial candle and he said, sure, and they were reading the Torah and asked me to join him.  As we walked downstairs, he asked a couple of times if I was Jewish, and whether my mother was Jewish.

Long story short: I was gifted with an alliyah (an honor – I read the blessing before and after the reading of a portion of the Torah) and as I stood there in front of the holy scroll, I felt my grandfather’s presence there in the basement of a seemly random house in South Korea.

Rebbe gave me a candle, offered to light it with me but gracefully declined. Thanks Phil for reminding me of who I am.