ESSAY: Gevurah: The Strength To Be In Charge of Yourself (Sefirat HaOmer and Parashat Shemini)
You are not your feelings. You are the leader who tends to them. (Click image to read more)
Parsha
MEDITATION: Gevurah: The Strength To Be In Charge Of Yourself (Sefirat HaOmer and Parashat Shemini)
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
ESSAY: Moving Out Of Idolatry Into Our Divine Abundance (Parashat Vayakhel)
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. When we have idols, we, too, become more limited. In Hallel, we say that idols can’t see or hear or move, and – “so, too, are those who make them,
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MEDITATION: Moving Out of Idolatry Into Our Divine Abundance (Parashat Vayakhel)
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.
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ESSAY: God’s Steady Ner Tamid Presence — And Our Own (Parashat Tetzaveh)
If God is willing to stay with me, who am I to abandon myself? At the start of our parsha, there is a command to bring oil for lighting the Ner Tamid, the “eternal light,” each evening to last through the night (Exodus 27:20). Tamid means doing something regularly, consistently, dependably, with constancy. Always there.
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MEDITATION: God’s Steady Ner Tamid Presence — and Our Own (Parashat Tetzaveh)
In this meditation, we look at the Ner Tamid as a symbol of God’s steady presence with us, even through the dark night of our suffering, and even through “the vinegar” of our mistakes. Thorough stories and images, we explore how it would feel to open to that fierce steadfastness and to cultivate it in
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ESSAY: Becoming a Sanctuary for the Divine Presence (Parashat Terumah)
God is looking for a residence on earth, always looking for a residence in each of us, knocking on our door, saying – can I live inside you? The instruction to construct the mishkan, the tabernacle, in our parsha is phrased in this way: Ve’asu li mikdash veshakhanti betokham (Exodus 25:8). They should make for
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MEDITATION: Becoming a Sanctuary for the Divine Presence (Parashat Terumah)
“They should make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst” (Exodus 25:8). “In their midst” [betokham] — inside each one of us. We interpret this as an instruction to each of us to create an internal sanctuary — God desires to reside inside us. In this meditation, we explore how to
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ESSAY: Becoming Listeners in Addition to Doers (Parashat Mishpatim)
It’s as if all of creation was waiting for us to learn to add nishma to na’aseh, to add listening to doing. In this week’s parsha, the covenant with God at Sinai continues to be processed and expanded, and it is here that we find the Israelites offering their famous response to this covenant –
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MEDITATION: Becoming Listeners In Addition to Doers (Parashat Mishpatim)
“Na’aseh Venishma,” we will do and we will listen, the Israelites famously respond to the covenant at Sinai. God wants us to become listeners in addition to doers. (Click image to read more)
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