Larry the K's Lineup

With the Jewish New Year beginning at sundown today (Sunday, Sept. 25), Jews in the United States and around the world are facing an uncertain future due to the sharp rise in anti-Semitism and the increased boldness and hatred of right-wing hate groups --- both online and in person. Their hateful rhetoric is in danger of making the Jewish people sitting ducks again --- and God forbid --- spawn a new Holocaust! This column, which was published Friday, Sept. 23 in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA, examines that disturbing trend. The link to the column, as it appears on The Sun Chronicle website, follows: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/opinion/columns/larry-kessler-for-jews-it-hasnt-been-such-a-shana-tova/article_3f28e9be-5028-5112-97a0-182acb7742df.html The Jewish New Year 5783 will start Sunday evening (Sept. 25) with the start of the two-day observance known as Rosh Hashanah and will end 10 days later at sundown on Wednesday, Oct. 5 with the conclusion of the 24-hour solemn fas...

  Larry with daughters Arianna, left, and Alana on his 70th. CUTLINE: Larry is surrounded by his two daughters, Arianna, left, and Alana, while celebrating his 70 th birthday at an area restaurant. (Photo by Lynne Cains) I recently turned 70, and as the saying goes, reaching that milestone is better than the alternative. But hitting that mark also has also convinced me to try to become less of a worry wart --- something I’ve been for the better part of my life. In this column, which I wrote for the September edition of Jewish Rhode Island of Providence, I share my thoughts on being a worry wart, and also offer a few observations on growing older. Here is the link to the column as it appears on the Jewish Rhode Island website: https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/a-few-things-ive-learned-in-my-70-years,17213? This column appears in the September edition of Jewish Rhode Island of Providence: One of the advantages of growing older has been learning to live more spontaneou...

In a time of great division and bitterness, it’s important to remember that there are good people out there who still reach out to help others. The residents of the Highland Meadow neighborhood of North Attleboro fit into that category. Simply put, they are, as the wizard in “The Wizard of Oz” described it, “good deed-doers.” For the sixth year --- the race wasn’t held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic --- the neighborhood, led by the youngsters and students who live there --- organized a race on Saturday (Sept. 10) to raise money for pediatric cancer research. It’s been held on Labor Day previously, but this year was changed to Saturday, due to Monday’s steady rain. This was the third or fourth time that I've done the race, and it’s an easy decision to participate in it, because I can jog-walk the mile or so from my house to the race site, do the race --- which is three laps around the neighborhood --- and then jog-walk back again. And the proceeds go to a very laudabl...

The death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, Sept. 8 at the age of 96 has been mourned worldwide, and justifiably so. No other nation's leader, royal or otherwise, was treated by people of hundreds of countries as their leader, too. Indeed, no other leader has made millions worldwide feel better by just being herself, and by being there. Elizabeth first became the leader of Great Britain and the Commonwealth on Feb. 6, 1952, at the age of 26, when her father King George VI, died, and it was truly remarkable that she reigned every day until her death --- for more than 70 ½ years. That’s a record for a monarch that's unlikely to be broken --- and it’s worth noting that she was still on the job two days before her death as on Sept. 6, she met with outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his replacement, Liz Truss, to facilitate the handover of power following Johnson’s recent resignation from the post. But Elizabeth, as has been noted by the many British royal watcher...