Eikev: Mindfully Eating Our Fill
One of my first classes in rabbinical school at AJR was “Contemplative Practice” with Rabbi Jill Hammer. One of the assignments had to do with “mindful eating,” where you take a small food item–perhaps...
Tagged: blessing
Toldot: Because Labels Are For Cans
When I was growing up, perhaps in middle or high school, I remember having conversations with my friends about how we would never bring children into a world that was so messed up; we...
Ki Tavo: What Are We Really Afraid Of?
In this week’s Torah reading, Ki Tavo, we have what’s called the Tochecha, the curses or the rebukes; essentially, the terrible things that will happen if the Israelites, once settled in the Promised Land,...
When Fear Happens: The Golden Calf and Coronavirus
As a pulpit rabbi, part of my job is to take our ancient, sacred texts, like the Torah, and make them relevant for who we are and how we live today. Sometimes it feels...
My Grandmother’s Diamond
This week’s Torah reading–Toledot–contains the famous story of Isaac “unknowingly” bestowing his blessing for Esau on Jacob. The text tells us that “Isaac was old, and his eyes were too weak to see,” so...
Being Mindful Of Our Blessings
“You shall not behave the way we do here this day, everyone doing what they please.” Doesn’t this verse from Deuteronomy sound like a biblical version of a parent saying to a child, “you’re...
Blessing Those Who Bless Us
This week’s Torah reading, Naso, begins with God instructing Moses to take a census of the Levites between the ages of 30 and 50, who are responsible for the maintaining and transporting the Mishkan,...
Let the Light of Hanukkah Shine On
Hanukkah ends at sunset, but unlike the endings of Shabbat and festivals–when Havdalah marks the separation between the holy and the mundane–there’s no ritual to mark this ending, and I’d like to propose one....
Enchantment, the Talmud and Memory
When I was a teenager, I loved going to Rabbi Wallin’s Tuesday evening Talmud class. I can’t tell you anything that I learned all those years ago, but I fell in love with Talmud,...
A Gift for the One who has Everything
Most of us have had the dilemma, at one time or another, of trying to buy a gift for “the person who has everything.” We rack our brains trying to come up with something...
