Please join me for six weeks of meaningful study on the themes of the High Holidays
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
My Uber driver was a woman in a hijab I climbed in, conscious of my Magen David Did she clock it? She didn’t say I didn’t move to hide it We chatted pleasantly and when Sara Bareilles came on the radio We both sang along Somewhere else our two people Are killing one another But
Yom Kippur 5782 This past year, in the lull between the 2nd and 3rd COVID waves, a request came through for a rabbi to go and sit with a woman who was dying. It had been almost a year since rabbis could safely visit with anyone, but the numbers were at an all-time low, and
The Soul Story of Marion B Read More »
This week’s portion, Vayechi, is the second portion in Genesis where the title is about the lives of biblical characters who, in fact, die within the telling of the narrative. Toward the beginning of Genesis we read Chayei Sarah, “The Life of Sarah”, which recounts her death; and here, in Vayechi, which means, “And he
Vayechi 2021 (Bubby Myra Lives On) Read More »
Let me tell you what I wish I’d know when I was young and dreamed of glory. You have no control – who lives, who dies, who tells your story. – Hamilton My iphone, on random setting, played me this song on the way to the cemetery and I was already weeping – fighting for