Five Compliments for Every One Criticism
Many years ago, I took my children to the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. A guide took us around and was patiently describing...
MASTERING THE ART OF INSIGHTS
All agree that the Chanukah candles represent insights
Countdown to Chanukah: Healing Light
“What new light has been added to your life?”
Between Hope & Despair
The Tisha b'Av experience is a spiritual affliction, "Acedia," a "sadness, a disgust with life, which comes from our inability to get along with ourselves, our disunion with God."
The Journey of Halacha
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the teacher of the Zohar who we honor on Lag B'Omer, plants seeds of infinite growth in our minds so each of us can begin our time travel with Torah with a taste of her eternally expanding wisdom embedded in our souls
Waiting On The Sideline
In this week's portion, the man, having been officially declared impure, is now ready for the end of his nightmare beginning his process of purification--on the sidelines.
Protecting the Precious
Our Matzah is not Shmurah if we are unconcerned with those who have nothing to eat, or no Seder to join.
Answering The Call
We explore life through the lens of Torah through the entire year. Now that Pesach approaches, we pause and listen as this week we hear God's loving call as if For The First Time.
Making Amends
Torah is to be taught as healing, as a relationship, as nurturing. It is this Torah I love and that gives me life.
Head In The Clouds
Moshe was leading them, and I suspect that he knew exactly where to go. The cloud was not a GPS, it was a reminder of the benefit of having our heads in the clouds: The cloud was an invitation to extend their reach, to remind them that each time they
An Honest Inward Look
It is Judah's honesty that triggers Joseph's decision to reveal his identity.
Wings of Desire
Who are these beings? Men to Avraham; Angels to Lot. Why do they play such important roles in Genesis? Why are the stories of the beginnings of humanity so rich with unfamiliar characters?
The True Measure of a Man
God doesn't need a slave to order and say: Build an ark! He could have made it in a second. God desires a partner. It is up to us to rise to that role. Noah's greatness was that he figured it out.
Collecting Chance Encounters
Once I learned to treat every person I meet as more than chance and as an opportunity, I was able to expand my collection of superheroes.
Before Judging
The primary quality of anyone judging another is that the judge first know how to judge himself. If he cannot honestly examine his own behavior, how can he possibly judge someone else's?
Hearing to See
I wish all of us, parents and teachers, would listen to everything our children ask and say. I dream of our hearing them so well that we can begin to visualize and relate to them as who they can be when they fulfill all their potential.
The Journey From The Refuge
" Nachamu, Nachamu, is not a repetition, but a Song of Act Two--uf new beginnings and of hope.
Watchers
On my watch
Finding My Path
Yes, things change, sometimes too quickly to comprehend, unless we realize that all the Sh'vilei Emunah, Paths of Faith, offer opportunities to explore new paths and discover how each can take us back to Sinai.
Paradigm Shift
When the Torah constantly asks that its words "Be new in our eyes, as if we are receiving the Torah today," it is not simply asking that we are open to a new reading of a verse, or application of a law. The Torah is asking us to live in a state of Paradigm Shift, a life in which our approach to prayer changes each day, as should our approach to all the commandments and texts.
Getting Heaven Into Our Head
We stand everyday as did Nadav and Avihu, searching to elevate our actions into meaning, desperate to 'make a difference," trying to get the heavens into our heads
Standing Outside With Everyone Else
Moses was stuck outside the Tabernacle with the people who built it. He understood at that moment the message of the Half Shekel, or, my fifty cents. He was not standing as the great Moses or the awesome Moses who could meet with God in Heaven. He stood outside as one of the people who all contributed a Half Shekel, fifty cents. It was at that moment that Moses became the most humble of men. I can almost hear the coins jingling in his pocket.
Connecting To Ourselves
"The Lord settles lonely individuals into the House (Psalms 68:7)." His House that "dwells in the heart of each individual" is meant to provide a place for the lonely; those disconnected from themselves
Vibrating With Internal Energy
I love and, am energized by, wrapping myself in my Tallit (Prayer Shawl), and tying on my Tefillin (Phylacteries) because of their message. I focused this morning on whether I had the ability to energize them, whether I could wear them as a celebration of my growth, and found myself vibrating with their energy.
A Taste of Heaven
I can see how much I have and celebrate my plenty by bringing a small slice of heaven to others who have even less.
Listening for What We Don’t Know
Absolute truth is dangerous in the hands of people who do not realize how much they do not know. Just as I cringe when someone declares that he knows the reason for the Holocaust, I shudder when people authoritatively declare people they don't know to be heretics and sinners. Knowing that I don't know opens the door to listening and learning, an opportunity to discover more about God, people, and me.
Becoming
I finished reading that the Israeli chief rabbinate invalidating numerous conversions, opened the weekly portion, and enjoyed a hearty chuckle when I remembered that the portion of Revelation and the Ten Statements is named for a convert, a failed one, Yitro. Things sure have changed.
Dance of Forgiveness
Miriam and the women who followed her recognized that Israel would be unable to move forward until they forgave God for their suffering and their fear. So they sang of God desiring to share His power with them so that they too would be able to "hurl horse with rider into the sea," as Israel does to Amalek in the closing scene of the portion.
Where Is Our Exodus?
Where is our Exodus? If the question is about miraculous salvation and the punishment of our enemies, I have no answer. If the question is a quest for experiencing greatness, the answer is the Mitzvot
Are You Listening?
God hears, and responds. God hears our prayers, and in so doing, gives voice to a powerful message of love. Can you hear it?
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