Mark Binder's Blog: Transmitting the Joy of Written and Spoken Word, page 12

How to prepare for a Skype Author Visit

Skype (or FaceTime) visits are awesome, here’s how to make sure… A successful Skype visit is more of a conversation than a performance. When I come to your school or organization for a live event, I’m there in person. Skype energy is completely different than face-to-face. Advance preparation for a Skype visit makes the session more effective. One to Two weeks before […]

Chelm Will Not Go Hungry – an excerpt from Matzah Mishugas

Two weeks before Pesach, Rabbi Yohon Abrahms and his Yeshiva students were discussing Passover preparations. A lively debate had arisen over the definition of leavened bread… “I still don’t see why we can’t use yeast,” said Joel Cantor. “In Exodus it just says that the bread didn’t have time to rise.” “They didn’t know about […]

Home is Where the Seder Is – an excerpt from Matzah Mishugas

Abraham Schlemiel, his wife Rosa, and their son Abraham have left Chelm and moved to New York City, where they are about to celebrate their first Seder as a family…  Abraham Schlemiel stared into the empty soup bowl.He hoped that his feeling of dread wasn’t showing on his face. What had he seen in The […]

The Last Temptation of Rabbi Kibbitz – an excerpt from Matzah Mishugas

It was the seventh day of Passover, and Rabbi Kibbitz was proud that he hadn’t had a thought of chometz in days. It was the first time in his life that he hadn’t spent every waking hour obsessing about all the foods he couldn’t eat. To celebrate, he’d walked to Smyrna to visit his friend […]

Secret Providence PARCC Opt-Out Form

By and large, I have kept politics out of this blog. However the politics of education are too important. In an effort to stymie parents interested in opting their children out of PARCC, Providence Public Schools created a secret permission form. Not all schools even know about the form. There was confusion at the front […]

Knock Knock – an excerpt from Matzah Mishugas

About that evening I went missing, it isn’t much of a story. The night was pitch black and I became completely lost. Fortunately, I found myself at the door to a small house. They must not have received many strangers in those parts, because every one in the village was soon jammed into that tiny […]

To Rise or Not to Rise – an excerpt

There was trouble in the small village of Chelm… “I’m not going to school,” said young David Gold, the cobbler’s son. “God has commanded me to stay in bed.” “How can you say such a thing?” said his mother, Esther. She was quite tired from preparing and cleaning up the Passover Seder, and had been […]

Matzah Mishugas (an excerpt)

Once, in the village of Chelm, a disaster struck right in the middle of the Passover Seder. There was chaos, food flew through the air, children ran shrieking to their mothers. It was mishugas, and… But wait, it is important that you understand a few details. Every year, weather permitting, (which in Chelm was not […]

Seder Switch (from Matzah Mishugas)

(A story of role-reversals, originally printed in Jewish Newspapers around the world )  “Do you know what I dreamed about last night?” Mrs. Chaipul asked her unsuspecting husband. The chief rabbi of Chelm shook his head. “Hmm?” he asked, not yet fully awake. “I was leading the Passover Seder,” she said. The rabbi blinked. “You […]

Mrs. Chaipul’s Lead Sinker Matzah Balls – an excerpt

Originally printed in Jewish Newspapers around the world and Cricket Magazine) Mrs. Chaipul is a wonderful cook. When you run the only kosher restaurant in the village of Chelm, you have to be. Her kugel is incredible; her kreplach are tender and moist; her corned beef and cabbage melt in your mouth; her roasted potatoes […]