Osler's Razor

For the past several years I have been giving lectures with Henry Bemporad, who is now the Chief Federal Defender for the Western District of Texas. The Western District is gigantic, stretching from Waco to El Paso, and encompassing courthouses in San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Midland, Alpine, Pecos, Del Rio, and El Paso. There have been two wonderful aspects of this; the first has been seeing such a broad swath of Texas, and the second has been working with Henry, who is a one of the best legal minds I have ever come across and a genuinely good man.

Yesterday, we lectured in Austin. As often happens, I had the pleasure of having a former student in the audience-- in this instance, David O'Toole. I'm always kind of amazed to find people I taught actually out in the practice, even if I knew all along they would be excellent lawyers.

What was best about yesterday was that Henry brought along his dad, Rabbi Jack Bemporad. Rabbi Bemporad, who taught for years at SMU, was preparing for a stint at the Vatican's Angelicum University. He has played a central role in Jewish-Christian relations, particularly in his work with Pope John Paul II, which included writing the Prague Agreement. At one point, Rabbi Bemporad addressed 50,000 people at the Vatican, including the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and other world religious leaders.

We had a great lunch at La Traviatta, which turned out to be much better than Waco's finest Italian restaurant, the Olive Garden (which really isn't as bad as some people think). Rabbi Bemporad was interested to hear about my book, but of course he knew more about the subject than I did. As you might expect, he has already been through the process of publishing a book. Spending time with him was a real pleasure, and helped me understand exactly where people like Henry Bemporad come from. Of course, I also discerned another thing Henry and I have in common: We both have dads who are way cooler than we are.