I got a note from a friend. She’d been visiting the mall late one evening. She said that she had looked for Saint John but missed him, “though we didn’t go through the Macy’s or Penney’s mattress departments where I assume he sleeps.” I hadn’t thought about that. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” I said […]

“Can we go back to talking about expectations?” I said. John had pointed to the whole “meaning of Christmas” perspective, to the expectancy of the one bringing good news to the poor. But it didn’t solve a struggle that I kept having. I was still wrestling with the practical implications of doing stuff at Christmas. […]