Some of you know that on Thursday mornings, I meet (sometimes in person and sometimes on Zoom) with about 30 old Jewish men (also known as friends), one of whom gives a 40 minute or so presentation on a subject of their choice, followed by a question, answer and comment period. A number of people ask me: So what kind of things do you talk about?

I thought today would be a good day to answer that question. Why? Because I can do it without thinking, and some days you just don’t want to have to think.

So, I will open my Daily Planner, and see how many of these I remember. I don’t take notes, so sometimes my memory fails. But for most, after the session, either a textual copy or a Power Point presentation is shared, so I can always go back and look at what was said.

Of course, I am not at every session – conflicts, vacations, etc. But here is a list of those which I attended in 2023.

Here goes.

1. Martin Luther and the Jews.
2. Ranked Choice Voting
3. Perfection/Imperfection
4. Felix Frankfurter
5. Stuyvesant Town
6. Mushrooms
7. Trip to Ukraine
8. Evil
9. Chicago
10. Israel and its Supreme Court
11. Joseph Heinrich
12. Do plants feel?
13. Joseph McCarthy and the Planned City of Greenbelt
14. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean
15. J.P. Morgan
16. Artificial Intelligence
17. “The Angel of Death”
18. The Jewish Music of Leonard Bernstein
19. Saul Alinsky
20. Ethical Wills
21. Jewish Humor
22. National Service
23. Jewish Farmers
24. Holocaust Reparations
25. Generation Z
26. The Capital Jewish Museum (field trip)
27. The 1973 War
28. The Dobbs Decision and the Downfall of Roe v Wade.

Now you have it. Want info on any of these? Let me know, and if there is Power Point that I have, and if the speaker says “sure”, I am happy to share it. But only if.