I turned the paper towel roll . . . toward the one object that was like no other in the night sky—the Moon. For about an hour, I sat transfixed in my lawn chair, wondering at all the things I could see. It is a source of endless fascination, even now.

He was small enough that my great-grandparents could fit him into an accordion case. . . . This is how the Jews brought the prophet Elijah to the New World.