Pretend you’re designing and building a new state Capitol. Imagine in precise detail the stones, woodwork, glass, tools, glue, joints, wiring and metalwork you’d need: such immense architectural plans could fill books. Now imagine getting… Continue reading
Travel in your mind to the top of our atmosphere, where Earth’s envelope of life-giving oxygen and nitrogen blends into the cold vacuum of space. Looking down from that heady height, as astronauts have done since 1961, the Earth… Continue reading
Perspective is everything. How we see the world – our point of view – shapes how the world affects us and thus how we live. The opposite also is true: how we live shapes… Continue reading
Jews are a People of the Book; Jews also are a People of the Song. In fear, poverty, war and exile, song packed light and eased the way. This spiritual secret is encoded in Jewish spiritual DNA: we can sing… Continue reading
It never fails. At first we feel gratitude for gifts and blessings, but memory fades and gratitude drains. We’re not ingrates, but recall and attention are limited: life naturally gets in the way.… Continue reading
It’s that time again – retrospectives on the secular year now ending, Top 10 lists, New Years resolutions, new calendars, the Baby New Year myth become childhood cartoon, renewed diets and gym routines perhaps… Continue reading
“Merry Christmas,” says this pulpit rabbi and co-chair of the Jewish Renewal movement. Regardless of our theologies and beliefs, the message of Christmas is worthy for Jews to think deeply about – but we need to get clear… Continue reading
“Hope springs eternal,” wrote essayist Alexander Pope. This sentiment forms the spiritual core ofChanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, and (not coincidentally) also this week’s Torah portion, Miketz. Hope, by its nature, transcends perceived reality… Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving. Now, let’s get real: Some don’t feel thankful today. We might feel like the turkeys got us down. We might feel burdened by hosting, harried by travel, lonely for having nowhere to go, bothered for… Continue reading
Every Jewish house of worship echoes the iconic scene in this week’s Torah portion (Vayetze). Jacob takes a rock and places it under his head for a pillow. He dreams of a ladder… Continue reading