In this meditation, we look at the passage of vayehi beneso’a ha’aron as offering a healing mode in two parts. The first part, kumah — arising, involves empowering and separating from the difficult forces around us, the “haters” that are scattered by God’s power. The second part — shuvah — returning, involves turning back in […]
MEDITATION: The Twin Powers of Arising and Returning (Parashat Beha’alotecha) Read More »
In this meditation, we consider the possibility that God is not in the thunder and lightning, but in the “still small voice” as Elijah discovered, or in our narrative, in the arafel, the thick cloud of fog that Moshe entered, and in the silent alef of the divine revelation. We explore the loud voices within
MEDITATION: Is God In the Thunder and Lightning? (Shavu’ot) Read More »
This fifth week of the Omer is associated with the divine attribute of Hod, which is understood as both “splendor” and “humility” and is represented by the left leg in the human body schema. In this meditation, we consider how leaning in to our weaker leg — acknowledging our limitations — opens us up to
MEDITATION: Hod: The Humility That Opens Us To Divine Splendor (sefirat HaOmer) Read More »
In this meditation, we explore the divine attribute associated with this fourth week of the Omer, Netzach, which means eternity or endurance. We look at it as the capacity to put one foot in front of the other on our journeys, neither harried in urgency nor collapsed in despair, but, with God’s unflagging support, staying
MEDITATION: Netzach: The Endurance to Keep Going (Sefirat HaOmer) Read More »
This meditation focuses on the divine attribute associated with this third week of the Omer, תפארת, Tiferet, which means Beauty or Harmony. Tiferet lies at our center as a capacity to hold, include and integrate polarized and contrasting energies on our right and our left. We practice making this motion flexibly, learning to move freely
MEDITATION: Tiferet and Our Both/and Capacity (Sefirat HaOmer) Read More »
This week, the second week of the Omer, is traditionally associated with the divine attribute of Gevurah, strength. In this meditation, we look at this attribute as our internal capacity for strong self leadership, taking back — from forces like the inner critic — the power to choose our own direction and live into our
This meditation is intended to help people relax and feel welcome and safe at the seder, to create the sense of a divine sanctuary that can hold it all, in which judgment and performance and striving fade away, and we can all float together in the effortless river of redemption. Haggadah metaphors and terms are
MEDITATION and SCRIPT: A Seder Opener (Passover) Read More »
This meditation asks the question: who is in charge inside you, Pharaoh or God? It considers the bullying, limiting, disempowering Pharaoh voices we have inside us, and looks at the Haggadah and the exodus story as a model for how God wants us to stand up to Pharaoh and reclaim our own divine power and
MEDITATION: Reclaim Your Power From Pharaoh (Passover) Read More »
This meditation focuses on the word hazeh, “this,” in hachodesh hazeh, “this month” (Exodus 12:2), considering how redemption and connection to God always happen in “this” moment, right now, in the present, and looking at all the ways we struggle with being present, constantly moving away from our experience. We practice being present just with
MEDITATION: Right Here, In This Moment (Parashat HaChodesh) Read More »
The problem with idolatry is not just that it limits who God is, but also that it limits who we are as reflections of God. In this meditation, we compare the narrowness of the golden calf venture to the expansiveness of the building of the tabernacle, with its kaleidoscope of color and texture and scent.
MEDITATION: Moving Out of Idolatry Into Our Divine Abundance (Parashat Vayakhel) Read More »