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I have a friend who's a plasma physicist.  He's brilliant- really brilliant- and divides much of his time between the finer points of cold fusion and developing alternative energy sources (may he only succeed!).

When we first met about thirty years ago, this friend, who is Jewish, wasn't all that into synagogue.  He famously commented to my wife and me that coming to synagogue every Shabbat was sort of like going to the same play every week… same script, same actors, same ending.  Groundhog Day for Jews.

The title of this blog entry is an intentional riff on the charming and wonderful  At Home in Mitford series by southern author Jan Karon.  The protagonist of the series, the unflappable Father Tim, is the endlessly patient pastor of a small church in a small town.  The books- each in its own slow and magical way- display both the charms and the challenges of the clerical life in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else's business.  Father Tim spends virtually his entire pastoral career in Mitford, and the town and its citizens are in his bones and his sou