(Originally published in December 2020) The Chanukah menorah is a kli, a vessel, to hold the oil or the candles that bring light into the world. Light needs a container. In order for blessing to enter this world, it needs a container. In the book of Kings (II Kings 4), when a destitute woman […]
SHORT ESSAY: Becoming a Vessel (Chanukah and Parashat Vayeshev) Read More »
ויהי ה’ את יוסף, “And God was with Yosef” (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): את (Parashat Vayeshev) Read More »
You are capable. Go out and conquer the world. (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): ותוכל (Parashat Vayishlach) Read More »
Yaakov struggles with the angel and is told, vatukhal, “you have prevailed.” In this meditation, we work with our own struggles and fears and find the strength and resililence to meet them face to face and feel our capacity to handle what is difficult. Photo by Snapwire from Pexels
MEDITATION: “You have Prevailed”: Feeling Our Own Strength (Parashat Vayishlach) Read More »
(Originally published in December 2020) Yaakov’s struggle with a “man” the night before he meets up with his brother Esav can be read as a rebirth. It is a transformative experience at the end of which he receives a name change, as if born anew with a fresh way of being in the world.
SHORT ESSAY: Yaakov’s Rebirth (Parashat Vayishlach) Read More »
When we fully rest in hamakom, in the place of today, whatever it is, we open up access to another hamakom, to God, to the ultimate Place of the World. (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: From Hamakom to Hamakom: Being Where We Are Right Now (Parashat Vayetze) Read More »
Yaakov stopped on his journey away from home at Hamakom, “the place.” In this meditation, we intrepret hamakom to mean where he was at that moment, the emotional space he was in, a fearful, lonely space. We imitate Yaakov’s instinct to rest in the place that he was in — in its hard rocks —
MEDITATION: Resting in “Hamakom” — This Place (Parashat Vayetze) Read More »
Who are your inner twins, the parts of you that are in conflict, constantly pulling you in different directions? (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: Rivka’s (and Our) Emotional Journey, in Three Parts (Parashat Toldot) Read More »
Rivka, now pregnant with twins, feels them struggling inside her, pulling in different directions. In this meditation, we follow her emotional journey from this sense of inner conflict to collapse to seeking God. We work to feel each difficult step, and then the unifying, calming energy of focusing on our deepest desire for divine connection.
MEDITATION: Rivka’s (And Our) Emotional Journey, In Three Parts (Parashat Toldot) Read More »
Eliekh, she said. I will go. Without the fanfare of a burning furnace or an elaborate divine call. (Click image to read full poem)
POEM: Elekh: “I will Go” (Parashat Chayei Sarah) Read More »