Preparing for this coming Shabbat by keeping cool sounds like good advice. Looking at our Torah reading for this week Moses confronts several crises. The Israelites are hot and tired. They have been journeying for over two years since leaving Egypt. The desert is hot and dry. Yes, God has provided the people with Manna to eat, but they are complaining that they miss the "good old days" where meat and fish, fruits and vegetables were plentiful. They have no control over their lives. Often we believe we are in control, but then something happens and we find we are not. As we enter the season of summer travel, perhaps we need to look more carefully at this torah portion. Having recently returned from a trip to Morocco and Spain, I read this sedra with new insight. Karen and I were on a packaged tour. We had no input into our itinerary other than what was published. A five star trip was advertised and indeed our first hotel in Casablanca was lovely. A well-known city, we of course wanted … [Read more...]

"Maybe our paths will cross when this universe folds in and makes another. Maybe, at the point when all that is and all that's ever been, collapses into everything else and is remade, our paths will cross, however briefly, and our terminus become a junction. It may be a long shot. I will take it and hope and trust that our paths cross again." -Epilogue, by Oliver Tearle I recently came across this poem and, although it is few in words, it speaks volumes about journeys, relationships, and connections. Nine years ago, Moshe and I arrived in Atlanta, freshly married, and excited for the adventure ahead. What an adventure it has been. The most profound moments have been sharing Jewish connection with you, through music, through text, study, song, b'nai mitzvah, baby namings, funerals, weddings. Living the Jewish cycle of life and the Jewish calendar through you and with you has been a deep and humbling privilege. You have placed yourselves into my hands and my care. This; those moments we … [Read more...]

Why do visitors to the Kotel write prayers and place them in the crevices and cracks of the ancient stones? The practice doesn't come from the Torah, from the Talmud, or from scholars like Rashi or Maimonides. Truly, there is no ancient or even medieval reason for why we do this practice. The tale goes that a rabbi in 18th century Jerusalem directed a man to place a prayer in the Western Wall so that the man's prayer might be heard by God. From there, the practice spread and has become an act of deep conversation with God that everyone from heads of state to everyday Jerusalemites do to speak with the Power of All.   Why the Western Wall? Why Jerusalem? Why not Hebron, or Warsaw, or Crown Heights?  After the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, many Israelites believed God had abandoned Jacob's descendants. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said that once the Temple was destroyed, God no longer resided in Jerusalem but returned to the heavens. Rabbi Elazar said that even … [Read more...]

There is a maxim in Judaism that we are forbidden from making an 'empty blessing.' Every blessing we make, say our Rabbis, must be followed by its related action.  For instance, saying the prayer over the candles, and then lighting them. An 'empty' prayer with no action attached to it is considered hypocrisy against the Divine. And so, mere days after 19 fourth-graders (and two teachers) were gunned down at their school in Uvalde, TX, with many more hurt and maimed by a madman's bullets, we once again hear pundits offering their 'thoughts and prayers' in lieu of action. This makes me sick.  It makes me ache.  It hurts me in my soul. What kind of America have we allowed to develop where this can happen again and again and again? "Thoughts and prayers" are usually followed by the ever popular 'moment of silence.' I'm sure that the silence is meant to show respect for the dead, and empathy for their grieving families.  But, at this point, it feels nothing more than a hollow gesture. If … [Read more...]