Greetings, Last week I was privileged to host Master Pearson here in Connecticut.  He returned to offer CPR, first aid, and AED training and certification to the teachers of the Noah’s Ark Early Childhood Learning Center at the synagogue where I work.  It was such a pleasure to have him return to the CT but […]

Greetings, Before I sat to write this post I poured myself a delicious cup of tea.  What a calming effect this steamy cup is having over me as I begin to draft my thoughts.  It’s still a bit too hot for me to drink (I like to take long drags from the mug and that’s […]

A few weeks ago, I administered our final promotion exam of the 2012 to my students.  When all had finished and (*sigh of relief*) passed, I concluded the test with the following famous story (of course modified so that the kids would get it and enjoy it), as a lesson in perseverance and what it […]

Greetings, So I’m at a bit of a loss in terms to of what to post on so this will be a sort of random post just to fill you in on recent happenings within HSN and beyond. Last night we had our first online lecture courtesy of Master Pearson.  There were some glitches in […]

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing…or at least Felix does.”  — Harry Potter (#6 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) Greetings, Remember that scene from the book…Harry, having recently become a potions high achiever due to the help of the Half Blood Prince, receives a special prize from his teacher;  a small bottle […]

Greetings, Long time no post!  Yes, I admit it, I’ve been quite the delinquent Hagsaeng Naebu   You see my life, like and athlete or a CPA functions in terms of “seasons.”  You see, as a rabbi, our busy time begins August 1st and runs through November 1st, steadily decreasing in terms of work load […]

Greetings, This week I come to you with a recommendation to fill those long summer nights.  Looking for a good flick, perhaps something that will peak your martial arts curiosity? Then check out my movie suggestion below… Peaceful Warrior is a must see for every serious martial artist, although you wouldn’t know it necessarily from […]

“Yossi Ben Yoezer said, “Let your home be a gathering place for scholars, get yourself dusty in the dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.”  Without going into too much detail, this is a quote from the Mishnah (Avot 4:1), a collection of rabbinic commentary and a sacred text in my […]

Greetings, I think many of you who have been following the blog for some time already know this but I have the unique privilege both within Hagsaeng Naebu as well as the larger Shin Ho Kwan association of serving as our Tenzo.  Tenzo, which means “kitchen master” is a roll bestowed upon me recently by […]

Last week I had the opportunity to write about my favorite trigram, the fire trigram, so it seems only fitting that this week my post gets to be on its partner, the trigram representing water. Everyone seems to know that fire and water are opposites. This, as a concept, is cross-cultural and has been expressed […]