The title of the mini-course that I am currently teaching at Temple Emanu-El is "A Spiritual Exploration of the Land of Israel." In it, I ask our congregants to keep in mind the meta-question that frames our focus and conversation, that being: "What does it look like, feel like, and what does it mean for a Jewish individual, and the Jewish people, to have a 'spiritual connection' to the Land of Israel." In this question is an assumption that there is such thing as a 'spiritual connection' and that it is possible for people to have it with a place. For some of you reading this, you are shaking your head 'yes', as the assumption reflects what you know in your 'kishkas'. For more generations than we can count, our people have been intertwined with the Land of Israel, and her people, and its fate. We orient ourselves towards Israel through our prayers and food, our life-cycle events, and our dreams. For some of you reading this, you are not quite sure… the assumption of a … [Read more...]
Mourner’s Kaddish is Planting Our Legacy
Legacy. What's a Legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. -Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton: An American Musical Every week at the end of our service we end with the same ritual, Kaddish Yatom, Mourner's Kaddish. Literally, Kaddish Yatom translates to the "Orphan's Kaddish." Perhaps the prayer is called this because we become orphaned when our family dies. Ending a service on such a somber and sobering note is a curious tradition. Perhaps it would be more uplifting to end with some kind of blessing for children, to see the small smiling faces beaming at a congregation full of family and friends. Instead, we end in memory by reciting the names of loved ones newly and long gone. There is power in this act of recollection. When we say their names, we breathe life into their legacy. We don't stop just at Kaddish. The names of our family members who have entered eternity become a part of the spoken traditions at all the family gatherings. Most families have a storyteller, … [Read more...]
How do we measure a year…since last Pesach?
Every year that we gather around the Seder table there is some event, some topic, some issue that makes this night and the past year different from all other years. Whether it's in the political arena, economic wins and woes, urgent social issues, or many, many more subjects, the Pesach Seder is uniquely positioned to provide an answer to them all. The universal message of our ancestors' Exodus is why the story has survived for so long and spread throughout the Western World. We are even told to place ourselves in the story, to see ourselves as though we were one of the Israelites fleeing from tyranny. So when we ask, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"we are fulfilling the enduring understanding of Pesach: once we were slaves in Egypt, today we are free, and we cannot truly celebrate our freedom until all people are free. For the majority of us who did not grow up in a warzone, behind the Iron Curtain, or under the constant threat of economic disaster and starvation, … [Read more...]
Mah Nishtanah- Was Last Night Different?
Last night I woke up many times. In part due to the heavy rains, and in part because I was listening (even in my sleep) for my phone to indicate a tornado warning. On the edge of dreams, I was ready to wake my wife, rush upstairs to grab the kids and dogs, so that we could all take shelter in the basement. It turned out to be, thank God, an uneventful night despite my fitful sleep. Recently I read about a psychologist who was presenting to a group. She held up a drinking glass, and proceeded to fill it up halfway with water. She then, dramatically, showed it to the group and asked them what they thought would come next. "Is the glass half full or half-empty?" was the prediction. "Not my question," the psychologist replied. "My question is, how heavy is it?" The group began to guess, "1/2 pound, ¾ pound…" The psychologist corrected them. They were answering how much is weighed, but what she wanted to know is how 'heavy' is it? She went on to explain. If the glass half … [Read more...]
Vayikrah: A Beginner’s Mind
There was a time when children began the study of Torah not in the beginning at Bereshit, but by delving into the middle of the Torah at Vayikrah, the detailed instruction for Temple sacrifices as atonements for wrongdoing. According to midrash, children's innocence was linked to the sacrificial laws of purity, and the study of Vayikrah was deemed preferential to other texts as the place to start.[i] In contemporary times, it is hard to imagine an introduction to Torah study with a text so devoid of narrative or character development. Even as an adult, I usually skim over the book of Vayikrah, holding my breath in resistance while searching for a way in. This week, I set the intention to study Parshat Vayikrah with "a beginner's mind," a Zen Buddhist concept of exploring a subject, even a difficult one, with total openness and without preconceived notions of past knowledge, like a child seeing something for the first time. I read the text delighting in my own lack of understanding … [Read more...]
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