Blog Archives

Spiritual Placebo (P. Hukkat)

6/29/2025

Near the Dead Sea, atop Mount Nebo opposite the city of Jericho, stands a monument to the awesome healing power of the human mind and the human spirit.

No, it's not a crucifix. Look more carefully: it's a snake on a stick.

Its derivation is this week's Torah portion and before that, the deep promise and neurobiology of healing.

It makes absolutely no sense at all – except that it makes all the sense in the world.

Keeping Up With the Joneses (P. Korah)

6/22/2025

"Keeping Up with the Joneses" – no, not the 2016 Jon Hamm movie about a suburban couple that managed to get entangled in an international spy plot after suspecting that their new neighbors were secret agents.

I mean something far more important – and far more impactful.

We humans are wired to yearn, even to want what we don't have. There are reasons that the Tenth Commandment urges not to covet. It's when we become jealous when big problems – relational, spiritual, national and global – really get going.

Reminder Strings Around the Finger (P. Shlakh)

6/15/2025

If only we more reliably remembered.

If only we could keep in mind, and in heart, what's really important when life distracts or challenges us.

If only we had some reliable way to rivet our attention, and our memory, when we've forgotten and life leads us astray from our highest values and best selves.

If only we could remember in real time that we forget, so that when we forget, we might reach for reminders.

Turns out that Judaism has some tools for us.

What the Light is For (P. Beha'alotekha)

6/8/2025

As many of you have heard, my mom has been in the hospital for a month, and therefore so have I. As many of us know from personal experience, hospitals are full of lights – colored door lights, blinking lights, flashing lights, beeping lights, and also lights of deep and abiding care.

It's a heck of a time and place to revisit one of Judaism's abiding symbols, the Menorah, its purpose to give light, and its link to healing.

The Bitterness of Judgment (P. Nasso)

6/1/2025

To accuse another is a big deal spiritually, and we all do it more than we realize. Even when we do not express a negative judgment, harboring one alters one's energetics. Leveling the accusation aloud can be more "honest," and also more impactful on the relationship.

This week's Torah portion goes there in the most intimate and impactful of ways.

Spiritual Placebo (P. Hukkat)

Keeping Up With the Joneses (P. Korah)

Reminder Strings Around the Finger (P. Shlakh)

What the Light is For (P. Beha'alotekha)

The Bitterness of Judgment (P. Nasso)

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