My daughter attended a Jewish day school for Kindergarten and Grade 1. Early in her first year I volunteered for lunch duty, and had a rude awakening. Blessings before the meal? No opportunity or direction provided. Throughout the meal, the Judaic studies director yelled at the students to talk less and eat. Her top trick […]
Apparently, if you focus on a steady spot far off in the distance, it’s possible to mitigate the worst effects of motion sickness. In a flat vista, that could be the distant horizon. With vertigo, the trick is to snap your head quickly in the opposite direction, which, paradoxically, could also worsen the vertiginous symptoms. […]
To set up the new document page for this message, I closed one from the Passover Recipes folder. Closing the page from Passover brings with it not only concrete activities like putting away the special recipes and kitchenware (and wondering what to do with that unopened box of matzah – again!) but sitting with reflections […]
The Passover seder exerts a strong pull on our people. Many studies and polls show that across the spectrum of observances and beliefs it’s the most widely-observed Jewish ritual outside of the High Holy Days. At its core, the seder is a Jewish time-traveling psychodrama, a biblio/rabbinic-drama, a fine expression of Judaism as an Evolving […]
I’m thrilled with the news out of Philadelphia. Nope, not the Super Bowl 2018 win by the Philadelphia Eagles; it is something far more parochial. Last week saw the announcement of the “rebranding” of the two entities at the core of what has been known as the Reconstructionist movement. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College – where […]
The first portion in the book of Exodus contains many familiar stories, ones that come with enduring iconic imagery: the Hebrew baby, who would become the great leader, floating in a basket on the river Nile; Moses slaying a cruel taskmaster who is beating a fellow Hebrew; the shepherd Moshe, awed by the bush on […]
As a youthful activist, I regularly read a journal of news and analysis called “In These Times.” It’s still around, doing long-form journalism and investigative reporting on-line and in print. So many things, in these times, happen on multiple platforms, even religion and spirituality. From Dharma Talks on RRS feeds to live-streamed Kabbalat Shabbat services […]
Shabbat, paired with the onset of winter, presents an interesting combination of opportunities and challenges for a progressive, living-in-two-civilizations community like ours. The pull to observe communally may weaken, whether your preference is to hunker down to stay in and cozy, or to take off to the hills and rinks at every opportunity. A few […]
At an event recently where I am known as a rabbi but was not functioning as a rabbi, I had occasion to make fun of myself. “Don’t worry,” I joked, “I’m always ready to talk … I’m a rabbi!” There is one big topic, though, that everyone seems to be talking about these days … […]
How do we mark Love? What about Creation – birth, plantings that grow, ideas and plan we seed? Where do we put our Regrets, our commitments to change? And how, with all of these, do we share the experience of our observance? In other times, our ancestors may not have exercised choice in these matters, […]
