Please join me for six weeks of meaningful study on the themes of the High Holidays
A reading, found in our machzor : Dwell on each sound of the shofar; contemplate its meaning. T’kiah – (BLOW) One whole note Sh’varim-T’ruah – (BLOW) Three broken notes; nine staccato notes T’kiah – (BLOW) One whole note . . . T’kiah – Once I was whole Sh’varim-T’ruah In the wear and tear of living, […]
Cries of Sorrow, Shouts of Joy (Rosh Hashanah morning, 5785) Read More »
Before we existed, the story goes, God convened a heavenly council—calling on the angels, each representing a different facet of the divine. There was the Angel of Peace, calm and serene, who spoke first. “Don’t create them,” Peace said, voice steady but firm. “Humans will bring strife and conflict, they will tear at each other,
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785: Divided We Fall Read More »
We come each year to draw Our sins out of the sea. Some years we walk up and down scanning for trash, or sitting and sifting in the sun but this year there’s no need We can stand in one place where the tide rolls in and turns to crash back out and each
Returning to You doesn’t have to be complicated It can be a moment A pause Noticing the sunbeam of light falling softly across my bed in the morning A miracle if I notice it A tragedy if I do not (The power of the miracle and the tragedy lies within me as much
Elul 20: Returning to You Read More »
There were moments this year when I thought I would never be okay again when I was so broken and broken-down that I wasn’t sure I could go on I was truly in that Sheol place that dark pit of despair where I couldn’t find the light within where I couldn’t remember my own worth
Elul 19: Broken & Not Broken Read More »
And Abraham travelled with his days collected in a rucksack (an Ark?) that he carried from place to place as God directed him here and there Here and there I carry my days too as God directs me there and here There and Here Some of my days are quite heavy More and more these
Elul 13: These Days We Carry Read More »
If I confront you about the ways in which you’ve harmed me I must also prepare to be confronted by the ways in which I’ve harmed you And I must be ready to confront and clear my own triggers and sensitivity Somewhere between my hurt and yours there is truth Let us hold up a
Elul 9: Confront Thyself Read More »
In the middle of The Bad Year you gave me a dead Apricot tree or so it seemed a flimsy empty branch in a fancy planter It seemed fitting we didn’t know if we were growing or dying together When I left you, I had determined among many things that it was alive
Elul 8: Teshuvah Blooms Read More »
Dear Sadness, Please meet Joy. She comes with her friends Awareness, Gratitude, Self-Acceptance and Love She comes with all of my friends too She comes with mountains and oceans and rivers and valleys And sunshine and flowers and dogs and yes, even cats She comes with farm animals and sea creatures She comes with a
Elul 3: Introduce Sadness to Joy Read More »
Telling you that you’ve harmed me Isn’t easy You’d think it would be That I would want to rebuke you Shout out my pain and rage and name all the injustices but telling you about my broken heart my fractured ego the ways in which I have lost confidence my shame my regret telling