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 […]
MEDITATION: Your True Tree Self (Parashat Shoftim) Read More »
Our parsha begins with the word re’eh, “see,” and ends with a commandment related to the same word, the mitzvah of re’ayon, of “being seen” by God in the Temple during pilgrimages. Three times a year, the Torah says, yera’eh, a person is required “to be seen” by God (Devarim 16:16). This is such
SHORT ESSAY: Being Seen by God (Parashat Re’eh) Read More »
In this meditation, we consider the mitzvah of re’ayon, of coming to the Temple three times a year to “be seen” by God, a mitzvah which appears at the end of our parsha. We explore two aspects of the feeling of being seen by God, the feeling of having one’s suffering be seen and the
MEDITATION: Being Seen by God (Parashat Re’eh) Read More »
Perhaps the greater our hunger — the more urgently God calls — the closer we are getting to “the days that are coming,” to the wholeness that emerges from our return . . . (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: Our Hunger, But Not For Bread (Parashat Eikev) Read More »
In this meditation, we get in touch with the ache of our hunger, our yearning, not for bread, but for connection to God, and we explore the different entry points . . . (Click image to read more)
MEDITATION: Our Hunger, But Not For bread (Parashat Eikev) Read More »
From there, from that very place, from the far-flung place of exile where you have been banished, from the very depths of emotional suffering, from that very place itself, you will find God. (Click image to read more)
SHORT THOUGHTS On Parashat Va’etchanan Read More »
Moshe looks back and, in retelling the incident of the spies, recalls what he had said to the people about their inability to move forward into the promised land — badavar hazeh eynkhem ma’aminim bashem Elokeikhem (Deuteronomy 1:32). “With reference to this thing you don’t believe in God.” What stops you from going
ESSAY: The Faith We Need for the Journey (Parashat Devarim) Read More »
In this meditation, we explore what “this thing” is that they and maybe we don’t believe or trust in — what stops us from fully moving forward on our journey to the promised land, to our full potential destiny? (click image to read more and listen)
MEDITATION: The Faith We Need For the Journey (Parashat Devarim) Read More »
Serach sits with her grandfather Yaakov, gently playing the lyre, and as she does, softly telling him that Yosef is alive. Be gentle in transition, even a good transition. (Click image to read more)
ESSAY: “Serach” Stories for Transition and Growth (Parashat Pinchas) Read More »
Serach, the daughter of Asher, lived a very long time — she lived through the descent to Egypt and the enslavement, the redemption, the desert, and the entrance to the land of Israel. She is listed in our parsha in the census (Numbers 26:46), one of the only women to be mentioned, and she is
MEDITATION: The Steady Presence of Serach bat Asher (Parashat Pinchas) Read More »