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 MoreThe way I respond to the deepest yearnings in my life — more often than I’d like to admit — is to refresh the New York Times homepage, or eat chocolate. We distract ourselves so we don’t have to acknowledge how far we are from who we want to be. Judaism offers us another way to respond: teshuva – often translated “repentance” and which literally means “turning” or “transforming.”
Read More[W]ith the impact of climate change, wildfires raging out West, continued political unrest, and the spread of the Delta variant…[t]hough we are in a much different place than we were last year, we are heartbroken and afraid. Divine light, the Source of All Blessing, at times feels altogether absent. It is precisely because of this that Torah says to us this week: Re’eh / “Look! I put before you this day a blessing and a curse.” (Deut. 11:26).
Read MoreWe can all think of times when our own dire predictions did not come true, right? When healing and transformation came from unexpected places. Isaiah encourages us this week to let go of our certainty, and instead open to possibility…. Negative predictions provide us with a false and dangerous surety — distract us from what we can do to build the just and loving world our grandchildren, and their grandchildren are counting on us give them. As we approach a new year, and all we hope to see and do, Isaiah reminds us that the future is still in our hands.
Read MoreThis week, Torah tells the story of our ancestors’ settlement in the Promised land. We usually think about their travels as one grand journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. But Torah breaks their travels into many small parts: Our parasha starts: These are the marching-stages of the Israelites who left the land of Egypt (Numbers 33:1)…. In the midst of wilderness moments in life — times of danger or uncertainty — we simply can’t make sense of our situation; it’s only as we arrive near the end of the journey that we can speak about how we got there.
Read MoreThough LGTBQ Pride month is celebrated these days with a popular parade supported by corporate sponsors, it wasn’t always this way: the reason we celebrate in June is to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a spontaneous act of resistance, at a time same-sex relationships were punished as crimes. This uprising became known as the major turning point in the Gay Liberation Movement. Judaism and other religions, too, were countercultural in their founding: they arose as spontaneous acts of resistance to challenge an oppressive status quo, and offer a prophetic vision of a just and liberated future.
Read MoreStill reeling from the sting of the community’s rebellion, and despite his allegiance to his brother, Moses Aaron defends the people against the plague:
וַיַּעֲמֹ֥ד בֵּֽין־הַמֵּתִ֖ים וּבֵ֣ין הַֽחַיִּ֑ים וַתֵּעָצַ֖ר הַמַּגֵּפָֽה׃ / And Aaron stood between the dead and the living until the plague stopped. (Num 17:13)
Imagine him on the front lines, putting himself at risk for those he could easily consider his enemy. In the face of death and adversity, he chooses life and peace.
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