Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים

Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים Judges 16:18-21:9

ESSAY: Be Yourself No Matter What They Say (Parashat Shoftim)

Staying present and true to God in you. That is all. What happens next is not your business. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Be Yourself No Matter What They Say (Parashat Shoftim)

In this meditation we explore the verse Tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokeha (Deuteronomy 18:13), “Be wholehearted with Hashem your God” as an instruction to give yourself over completely to the simple but not easy task of being true to yourself and to God in you at all moments. We consider the stress of constant worry

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ESSAY: Be “Tamim”: Stay True To Yourself (Parashat Shoftim)

When a plant grows, it does not do so in order to show off or please others. It grows out a natural instinct to express itself, to be itself in the world. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Be “Tamim”: Stay True to Yourself (Parashat Shoftim)

Be tamim with Hashem your God. Find the pure unblemished place inside where you are truly with Hashem your God, where you are aligned with your divine essence. (Click image to read more)

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ESSAY: Our Inner City of Refuge (Parashat Shoftim)

This place of refuge is not a place of judgment or perfection, but a place to be held in the mess of your own life with love and forgiveness. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Our Inner City of Refuge (Parashat Shoftim)

In this meditation, we work on finding and strengthening places of refuge inside us where there is forgiveness and atonement and healing, where we are held in all our imperfections and returned to a sense of belonging. Sources:Deuteronomy 19:1-8Rashi on Deuteronomy 19:3Psalm 27:4Maimonides, Laws of the Murderer and Loss of Life, 8: 5-6, 11Psalm 91:1Deuteronomy

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ESSAY: Your True Tree Self (Parashat Shoftim)

For a person — even in the midst of war — is still a tree of the field, still steady, majestic and connected. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Your True Tree Self (Parashat Shoftim)

This meditation deals with the phrase ki ha’adam etz hasadeh, “for a person is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 21:19), exploring what it might feel like to really imagine yourself as a tree, the majesty and the stillness, the groundedness and the sense of connection. This phrase is said in the context of war

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SHORT ESSAY: On Becoming Whole (Parashat Shoftim)

We come into this world with a faint memory of having once been part of something much larger than ourselves.    We have a vague sense of incompleteness, that we are missing something essential.  We are hungry, but not for food, never quite satisfied, always yearning.  We are deeply and relentlessly lonely, even when we

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