One theme running through the parsha’s laws is taking care of the vulnerable in society — the stranger, the widow, the poor, the slave, . . . In this meditation, we look inward to our own vulnerable parts, we get to know them and the shame and judgment surrounding them, we listen to them and […]
MEDITATION: The Vulnerable Inside you (Parashat Mishpatim) Read More »
(Origninally published in 2021) These are our internal strangers, living in our system as second class citizens. When we welcome them in, when we welcome the holes, they shift from being outsiders in this world to insiders in another world . . . (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: The Stranger Inside Us (Parashat Mishpatim) Read More »
Maybe in the spectacular revelation of God’s “Anokhi” self, we also find the capacity to return home to the fullness of our own selves. (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): אנכי, “I” (Parashat Yitro) Read More »
(Originally published in 2021)
1. Acccept wisdom from wherever it appears, even “outsiders.”
2. You can’t do it alone.
3. Don’t be too busy to witness the divine.
(Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: 10 Steps to Revelation (Parashat Yitro) Read More »
In this meditation, we journey together through the experience of revelation at Mount Sinai, and in seeing with clarity the power and strength of God’s “Anokhi” self, we find our own divinely implanted Self reflected and empowered. This reading is based on an idea of the Sefat Emet that, at Mount Sinai, “each one recognized
MEDITATION: Mount Sinai and the Divine Empowerment of Each of Us (Parashat Yitro) Read More »
“Lo nacham” — God does not regret taking Israel out of Egypt. Rest in the knowledge of that unshakable love. (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): נחם — God Leads and Never Leaves (Parashat Beshalach) Read More »
(Originally published in January 2021) God says: “What are you yelling at Me for? Tell them to move forward!” The only way around fear is through it, moving forward depsite the fear, in the fear, through the fear itself . . . (Click image to read more)
SHORT ESSAY: From Fear to Song (Parashat Beshalach) Read More »
In this meditation, we journey with the Israelites through fear and faith and strength and joy and dance, as we cross the Red Sea together. Photo by Emiliano Arano from Pexels
MEDITATION: Crossing the Sea (Parashat Beshalach) Read More »
This feeling, this problem, this difficulty you are having, this itself is what you can sanctify, what you can bring presence and honor to . . . (Click image to read more)
WOW (Word of the Week): הזה, “This” (Parashat Bo) Read More »
(Originally published in January 2021) The Israelites stand in the portal to freedom on the night of the fourteenth of Nissan, as the first-born plague rages around them. Their portal is marked by blood, the blood of the sheep they just sacrificed, but also, symbolically, the blood of their years of suffering. They are poised
SHORT ESSAY: Through the Doorway of Suffering (Parashat Bo) Read More »