In this meditation, we explore the mitzvah of peah, of leaving the corners of your fields unharvested for the needy. We consider the needy parts of ourselves, the parts that want love and attention and the parts that feel impoverished and inadequate in some way, and we invite those needy parts to rest in the […]
MEDITATION: Peah: Rest Your Inadequacy Here (Parashat Emor) Read More »
(Originally published in 2021) The journey of the Omer is an apt metaphor for the journey taken by each of our souls in this world from birth to death. (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: Sefirat HaOmer and the Soul’s Journey Home (Parashat Emor) Read More »
Do we hate parts of ourselves? It may be hard to recognize, but I think most of us do. (Click image to read more)
QUICK THOUGHT: Do Not Hate Your Inner Brother (Parashat Kedoshim) Read More »
Reverse the verse: Love yourself as you would love a friend. (Click image to read more)
QUICK THOUGHT: “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”: Reverse the Verse (Parashat Kedoshim) Read More »
The commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” assumes and depends upon a strong love of self. In this meditation, we work on this “yourself” side of the command, using the Torah’s words here to move through an exploration of how we reject and hate parts of ourselves to befriending and loving those
MEDITATION: Kamokha: As You Love Yourself Read More »
If you want to come into the divine sanctuary, you cannot do so with “kol et,” weighed down by all of time, by all the traums of the past and the worries over the future. Enter only with “zot,” with this moment. (Click image to read more)
QUICK THOUGHT: Enter With Only This (Parashat Acharei Mot) Read More »
(Originally published in 2021) This afflication is indeed a gift. (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: The Hidden Treasure Inside Us (Parashat Metzora) Read More »
The first commandment the Isarelites receive as a nation is to mark the new moon. In this meditation, we look at this commandment as an invitation to remember our own capacity for renewal. (Click image to read more)
MEDITATION: Release and Renewal (Parashat HaChodesh, Passover and Parashat Bo) Read More »
This meditation connects Aharon’s stance of demamah, of stillness, at the death of his sons, to the “still, small voice” of God that Eliyahu experienced, understanding stillness as a divine point implanted in each of us that can hold any pain, no matter how intense. We work first on developing a sense of this stillness
MEDITATION: The Stillness that Can Hold Pain (Parashat Shemini) Read More »
In the aftermath of tragedy, Aharon encountered a different, quieter aspect of God — the ability to sit still with pain, not to get ride of it or fix it, but simply to be present with it . . . (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): וידם, “He was still and Silent” (Parashat Shemini) Read More »