Bereshit (Genesis)
When we are really struggling, how do we move out of a place of stuckness? How do we find the resources to emerge, not to keep getting sucked down into the whirlpool of hopelessness and helplessness, of fear and anxiety and collapse? Yaakov must have known something about this. He suffered for years over […]
ESSAY: The Angel That Redeems You (Parashat Vayechi) Read More »
We cannot redeem ourselves through our ordinary human capacities. Redemption only comes through surrender to the divine plane, to the angel that is always waiting to redeem us. In this meditation, we work with the famous phrase (and song) hamalakh hagoel oti (Genesis 48:16) that Yaakov said as a blessing to Yosef and his sons,
MEDITATION: The Angel That Redeems You (Parashat Vayechi) Read More »
Yosef is given a special coat by his father, a kutonet pasim, a fine striped tunic, as a symbol of his status as his father’s favorite, most beloved child (Genesis 37:3). Growing up with his father treating him this way, it is no surprise that Yosef’s dreams betray this sense of superiority, with visions of
ESSAY: It Is My Brothers That I Seek (Parashat Vayeshev) Read More »
In this meditation, we look at issues of superiority and inferiority in the Yosef story and our own tendencies to live through the lens of constant comparison to others. And then we touch into our deepest desire, which, like Yosef, is ultimately to seek “our brothers” and our sisters, to seek fellowship and peer connection,
MEDITATION: It Is My Brothers That I Seek (Parashat Vayeshev) Read More »
The sun shone for him, for Yaakov. It shines for you, too. Rest in that loving light. It was made for you, to heal you. (Click image to read more)
ESSAY: The Sun Shines For You (Parashat Vayishlach) Read More »
After Yaakov wrestles with the angel, injuring his hip, the next morning the Torah says, vayizrach lo hashemesh, “the sun shone for him” (Genesis 32:32). The midrash explains that the sun came out to heal him after his injury. In this meditation, we explore what it would feel like to imagine that the sun was
MEDITATION: The Sun Shines For You (Parashat Vayishlach) Read More »
Through the roller coaster of our internal and external lives, we can, like Yaakov, stay steady and rooted in the ground, in our makom, in that deep place inside us where we are always with God, always at peace. (Click image to read more)
ESSAY: Resting Deeply In This Place (Parashat Vayetze) Read More »
In this meditation, we explore the image of the angels climbing up and down in Yaakov’s dream. First we relate that image to our breath, feeling our in and out, up and down breath, as a chain of angels inside creating a constant energetic current of connection between us and God, noticing that the ladder
MEDITATION: Resting Deeply in This Place (Parashat Vayetze) Read More »
Yitzhak didn’t meditate or stroll in that field for any utilitarian purpose. There is nothing you need to get done in this space. (Click image to read more)
ESSAY: Entering Yitzhak’s Meditative Space (Parashat Chayei Sarah) Read More »
In a world where the promised blessings seem not yet to have fully arrived, be the blessing you want to see. Be the love. Be the kindness. Be the blessing. (Click image to read more)
ESSAY: Grounding in Faith in an Unredeemed World (Parashat Vayera) Read More »