Today, we return to a collection of powerful metaphors: a Book of Life we yearn to be written in for a year of health and happiness; the shofar (the ram’s horn), which evokes the wails of our foremothers as they confronted unspeakable loss and sought consolation; the gates of prayer that stand open before us, assuring us our heart’s longings might be received at this special time of year. These images point toward truths about life we sense but cannot name.
Read MoreJust as resting is the way the world begins, endlessly working the land will be the way the world ends. We watch anxiously as droughts and wildfires plague the West Coast and wider world. Extreme weather, hurricanes and floods, predicted to happen once a century now happens every few years. Our society demands we prove our value through doing; but it consistently fails in its capacity to invest in being. Our ancestors knew how dangerous this could be - how easily it could lead us to create vast inequalities between the haves and the have-nots, devalue elders, and cause us to exploit each other and our planet.
Read MoreThe ways we get ready for Shabbat and holidays - dressing, eating, and speaking with more intention- reminds us of our aspirations towards physical and spiritual renewal, and show we’re ready for a different world. When we enter the world prepared for change, we are no longer waiting for the world to get better: we are making a change ourselves.
Read MoreYesterday I spoke about Rosh Hashanah’s invitation to us, b’charta b’chayyim – to renew our commitment to life, even in the face of the world’s brokenness and our own limitations. But how can ordinary people like you and me make a life-giving choice — when it means doing something out of character for us, something we might never have done or imagined doing before?
Read MoreOver the past many months, many of us have understandably become numb in the face of overwhelming cruelty, injustice, and death we have faced personally…. As we armored our hearts against the horror of the past year, we may have found we became less able to fully receive positive experiences: the love of friends and family, the taste of good food, the beauty of the natural world around us. Rosh Hashanah, yom harat haolam is not a time to judge ourselves for this: rather, it’s an invitation to wake up to how we are choosing to live. It’s an opportunity to return, to start over, to renew ourselves; to use our awareness of life’s fragility to live with a bit more intention, to open our hearts once more so they can respond to the challenges we face, and fully receive its joys — so we can live and feel more fully.
Read MoreOne hineini, Abraham packs for a journey, gets ready to fulfil the terrible mission he has unwittingly accepted. Another hineini, Abraham’s journey ends, he is relieved of his awful burden. One hineini: Abraham accepts the painful fate he has been given. Another hineini: he responds, with joy, to a totally different truth. One hineini, Abraham’s life path seems set. Another hineini, he opens up to a totally different destiny.
Read MoreAs we cross from 5774 to 5775, the Akeida (the Binding of Isaac, which is traditionally read on Rosh Hashanah) tells us to look both ways so we can perceive the fullness of our reality.
As he looked up, Abraham saw the place from afar (Genesis 22:4)—three days before, God commanded Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering on a mountain. Even though he is still far away, the moment Abraham sees the mountain he begins to anticipate his grief. He doesn’t raise his eyes again for a long time.
Read More
