Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Confessions of a Wandering Jew -- Table of Contents

Confessions of a Wandering Jew — Jeffrey S. Wasserman, Ph.D.

Table of Contents

Google’s Blogger doesn’t have a flexible menu system.  So, click on the links below to go directly to the articles.

1 — Starting Where I Am (Chicago:  Feb 2009)

2 — A Word of Caution from a Wondering Wanderer (Chicago: Feb 6, 2009)


Wandering the USA:  Kentucky-Wisconsin-California-Texas  (1967-1976)

3 — Wondering Wanderer (Madison, Wisconsin:  1967)

4 — So Who Is Timothy Leary and What Does He Have to Do With Anything? (Madison: 1968)

5 — Seven Days in May (Madison:  1969) Day 1 - Part I

6 — Day 1 (Madison:  May 1969) Part II - Jewish LSD Freak Meets Jesus Freak

7 — Day 2 (Madison:  May 1969)

8 — Day 3 (Madison:  May 1969) - The California Appeal

9 — Day 4 (Iowa:  May 1969) - The Wicked Witch of the East

10 — Day 5 (Santa Cruz, California:  May 1969) - Communal Life Means Sharing Your Peanut Butter

11 — Day 6 (Santa Cruz:  May 1969) - Learning to Laugh 

12 — Day 7 (Santa Cruz-May 1969) - Is There a Hangover from Prayer?

13 — Like the Water?  Go Navy! (Louisville, Kentucky:  July 1969)

14 — A Day in the Sand on the Beach--A Frozen Beach! (Great Lakes, Illinois:  Nov 1969)

15 — Wake-up Call from Above (Great Lakes:  Nov 1969)

16 — Whistling Is Safer than Singing (Great Lakes:  Dec 1969)

17 — ♪♪ On Wisconsin, On Wisconsin ♪♪ (Louisville:  Jan 1970)

18 — Chris the Hippie Meets Chris the Hippie! (Madison: 1970)

19 — SDS vs. Christians (Madison:  1970)

20 — Houston, We Have a Problem! (Houston:  June 1970)

21 — From Jewish Hippie to Texas Conservative (Houston:  June 1970)

22 — Finding Love and War (Houston:  1973)


Wandering Africa:  Rhodesia  (1976-1979)

23 — Honeymooning In A War Zone (Houston to Rhodesia:  1976)

24 — Two Eggs Boss?  You Sure? (Salisbury, Rhodesia:  Nov 1976)

25 — Fit or Fat?  (Salisbury, Rhodesia:  Nov 1976)

26 — A Rhodesian "Rebel" I Loved (Salisbury, Rhodesia:  Dec 1976)

27 — Tea with the Judge (Rhodesia: Dec 1976)

28 — The Convoy (Rhodesia: Dec 1976)

29 — No Umbrella for the Rain Forest (Victoria Falls, Rhodesia:  Dec 1976)

30 — Avocado on a Hot Tin Roof (Salisbury:  Jan 1977)

31 — The Rhodesian Light Infantry (Salisbury: Jan 1977)

32 — Field "Trip" (Salisbury: Jan 1977)

33 — The Interview (Salisbury: Feb 1977) 

34 — The Interview, Addendum (Salisbury:  Feb 1977)

35 — Reverse Gear and Fast! (Salisbury:  March 1977)

36 — Another Colonel In the Church (Salisbury: March 1977)

37 — Stand at attention when you talk to ME! (Salisbury:  March 1977)

38 — Pistol-Packin’ Chaplain (Salisbury:  March 1977)

39 — The Return of the "Wondering" Wanderer (Salisbury:  April 1977)

40 — Unstable and Unreliable (Salisbury:  May 1977)

41 — Hugged Instead of Slapped (Salisbury:  July 1977)

42 — From Death to Birth (Salisbury:  July 1977)

43 — Farm Life in a War Zone (Salisbury & Wedza: Aug 1977)

44 — Tea with Land Mines (Umtali, Rhodesia:  Aug 1977)

45 — A Half Bottle of Jack Daniels (Salisbury:  Aug 1977)

46 — ♪♪ Paranoia Strikes Deep ♪♪ (Salisbury:  Aug 1977) + Addendum:  Thoughts on PTSD

47 — A Genuine “Crippled Eagle” (Salisbury:  Sep 1977)

48 — Tea with the General (Salisbury:  Sep 1977)

49 — Balla Balla, Bulawayo and Matsheumshlope (Rhodesia:  Oct 1977)

50 — "Muck" and Mire (Bulawayo:  Oct 1977)

51 — War Fever (Bulawayo:  Oct 1977)

52 — American Visitors (Bulawayo:  Nov 1977)

53 — This Phone May Be Tapped! (Bulawayo:  Dec 1977)

54 — Tell Them to Go!  (Salisbury:  Dec 1977)

55 — The Rebel I Loved and Lost (Bulawayo:  April 1978)

56 — “The French Would Sell Their Mothers!” (Bulawayo:  April 1978)

57 — Finding Out for Myself (Leaving Rhodesia:  May 1978)


Wandering the USA:  Texas-Wisconsin-Kentucky (1979-1983)

58 — Are We There Yet? (New York:  May 1978)

59 — In Uniform for Church? (Houston:  May 1978)

60 — ♪♪ On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin ♪♪ Again! (Jan 1979)

61 — Me a Pastor? (Neshkoro, Wisconsin:  Dec 1979)

62 — “Sparks” In Our Ministry (Berlin, Wisconsin:  Spring 1980)

63 — The Brothers In Responsibility (Louisville:  Spring 1980)

64 — A Brother from Zimbabwe (Louisville:  1980-1981)

65 — Tired of Waiting (Louisville:  1982)

66 — Listen for the Music and Follow It (Louisville:  1983)


Wandering Africa:  Zimbabwe (1983-1997)

67 — Back to the Jameson Hotel (Louisville:  Nov 1983)

68 — By Train from Johannesburg to Harare (Southern Africa:  Dec 1983)

69 — “Kalanyoni” -- The Call of the Bird (Harare, Zimbabwe:  Dec 1983)

70 — Colorless Sunday Services (Harare:  Dec 1983)

71 — “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (Harare:  Dec 1983)

72 — Hitchhiking in Zimbabwe (Harare: Dec 1983)

73 — The Road to Wedza (Zimbabwe:  Jan 1984)

74 — Fun and Games with Zimbabwe Immigration (Harare:  Jan 1984)

75 — Darkness and FOG (Harare:  Jan 1984)

76 — Computer Programmer or Pastor? (Harare:  Jan 1984)

77 — Fun and Games with Zimbabwe Immigration—Again!!! (Harare:  Jan 1984)

78 — The Beginnings of Ministry (Harare:  Feb 1984)

79 — Overturning the Rhodesian Paradigm in a Church (Harare:  Feb 1984)

80 — Hold the Rain! (Harare:  Mar 1984)

81 — Taking Our Show On the Road

82 — A Tale of Two Phone Calls (Zimbabwe:  May 1984)

83 — Detoured from Wedza’s Tobacco Road

84 — The Tobacco Road (Wedza:  May 1984)

85 — Under the Big Top (Wedza:  July 1984)

86 — “But you were invited!” [Intro]  (Wedza:  July 1984)

87 — "But, I repeat--you were invited!” (Wedza:  July 1984)

88 — All Politics is Local (Wedza:  July 1984)

89 — You Don't Understand that God Sent You (Wedza-Harare-Kariba:  July 1984)

90 — Contrasting Hearts (Harare:  Aug 1984)

91 — Too Much Mutton! (Kariba:  Sep 1984)

92 — Where Is Home Anyway? (Kariba:  Sep 1984)

93 — The End of the Journal — Not the End of the Journey (USA:  Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec 1984)

94 — A Triumphal Return!  Uh-oh, another detour . . . (Chicago:  July 4, 2013)

95 — Get on with that “Triumphal Return” already!  (Zimbabwe:  Jan 1985)

96 — Those Polymorph Thingies (Wedza:  Feb 1985)

97 — This Is Ridiculous—Another Detour!!! (Chicago:  June 2014)

98 — Time to Ponder (Wedza:  March 1985)

99 — When All Seemed Promising (Wedza:  May 1985)

100 — A decade-long detour. So forgive the reintroduction!

            Includes:  Harare Having Any Fun Yet?  (Harare:  Jan 1986)

101 — Another 7 Days in May—This Time in Israel (Tel Aviv, Israel:  May 1986)

102 — Abigail! (USA:  June 1986)

103 — Stuck in the States (Louisville:  Aug-Sep 1986)

104 — Why Are You Traveling to Israel? (Oct 1986)

105 — No Longer Welcome (Harare:  Oct 1986)

106 — The Northern Wasteland (Lusaka, Zambia:  Nov 1986)

107 — Leaving Africa:  🎶 “Hello, I Must Be Going!” 🎶 (Harare:  Nov 1986)


Wandering the USA:  Kentucky (1987-1997)

108 — Starting Where I Am Again! (July 4, 2024  --  June 3, 2025)

109 — More Wandering and Wondering (July 2025)

110 — Fond Farewell? (Zimbabwe to Louisville:  Spring 1987)

111 — Teaching Myself to Swim (Louisville:  Fall 1987)

112 — Treading Water Can Be Pleasant . . . for a While (Louisville:  1987-91)

113 — My Father Told Me a Joke (Louisville:  1991-92)

114 — Hating August (Louisville:  1993)

115 — Don’t Be in a Hurry to Be an Old Man (Written Aug 2025)


Wandering Southeast Asia:  Singapore (1997-1999)

116 — Don’t Hurry, But Pick Up the Pace! (Louisville to  Singapore:  1991-1999)


Wandering the USA:  Chicago (1999-2023)

117 — Meeting the Rabbi (Chicago:  Fall 1999)

118 — 🎶 “Teach Your Children Well” 🎶 (Fall 1999)

119 —  One Small Step for a Man—A Giant Leap for this "Wasser"-man (Chicago:  Fall 1999)

120 —  Jewish-ish, Jewish-er — Just Jewish (Chicago:  1999-2022)


No Longer Wandering:  ISRAEL (2023 . . . )

121 — Planting My Flag (Israel:  Aug 30, 2023)

122 — O Jerusalem! (Israel:  Aug 30 - Oct 7, 2023)

123 — The Sum of the Matter (Israel:  Hebrew Year 5784)


Afterthoughts 

Postscript:  What’s Next? (Jan 20, 2026)

Why “unleavened” bread? (Jan 21, 2026)