(based on a text by Rabbi Dan Wolpe) Mekorenu Eloheynu/Our source, our God, Over the last few months, there has been so much horror. A deep increase in acts of hatred, storms that are flooding and destroying cities and taking human life, fires that are devastating communities in this country, earthquakes, ongoing genocides. We won’t […]
Exactly 12 years ago, as the effects of Hurricane Katrina were soaking into our consciousness, many faith-based messages ensued, along with information about where to send donations for relief. Among my colleagues, we discussed how to share pastoral messages without ignoring our politically-informed awareness about the human failings that led to the scope and impact of […]
It’s been a season and summer of crazy. Issues of parades and flags and race intersecting, and none too comfortably. And then … Charlottesville. Next week is Pride Week in Ottawa, and I’m sitting with lots of questions: How do we name the crossroads where we meet each other next week? How and why are […]
With the overlap of Passover, Holy Week and Easter this year, it is even more tempting than usual to look at the ritual, spiritual and communal similarities and differences between the two religions. Ritually, the external forms of Judaism and Christianity diverge significantly, just as they do at any time of the year. However, the […]
Rosh Hodesh, literally the head of the month, refers the new moon. Jewish months most often begin in the middle of our Gregorian months, giving rise to those confusing calendars, with the Gregorian date in one corner and the contrasting Jewish calendar date in another, which begins on the previous evening. This Jewish year, as […]
Those of us who have siblings, and those of us who parent more than one offspring, have a particular challenge in our lives. It plays out through circumstances that may appear mundane, yet illuminate an issue that is both profoundly human and deeply sacred. When my two children were young, there was a fair bit […]
Each November the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College hosts a three-day gathering for prospective students. This past fall’s Institute began on November 9, the day after the American presidential election, which had been preceded by a long season of acrimonious campaigning, and a deteriorating civil discourse. In this article about the event, several biblical figures and narrative threads are […]
Reconstructionist Judaism has been described by one of my great rabbinical school teachers, Dr. Arthur Green, as religious humanism. He also teaches that the first and most important “commandment” of the Hebrew Bible is captured in Genesis 1:27 with the phrase tselem elohim – the image of God. These are two essential teachings for me. […]
In the best of times, and when I am at my best, I live in the moment. This doesn’t mean I do not look ahead. I make plans, I anticipate needs, and I look forward to special events. But when I’m living in the moment, all sorts of things become clear. My sense of smell, […]
By the time you read these words, voting will have concluded in the American presidential election. For many, this will bring relief merely for concluding a massively divisive and even bizarre campaign. Amongst factual as well as partisan reporting of the candidates, polling, alliances and breaches, there have been frequent references to the deleterious psychological […]
