Blog Archives

Our Own Way? (P. Re'eh)

8/25/2024

Modern spirituality uplifts personal choice. Most of us understand liberal Judaism to invite each of us individually to question, wrestle, discern and decide for ourselves, liberated from mandate and commandedness. That's what liberalism means: the liberty to choose for ourselves, based on the rights and equal dignity of each individual.

Yet Judaism also is a team sport. We can't all go our own way and survive, much less thrive.

The Neck's Cure is the Heart (P. Eikev)

8/18/2024

Week by precious week, we're shown how we strayed from our best selves. Slowly at first, this season hints, asks, presses, cajoles, demands and then forces us to see some things that maybe we labor mightily not to see. We turn away, perhaps with the whole of our lives or just a part. Or we turn away from truths about ourselves.

In Torah's words, we become "stiff necked." This season's call to turn back means that we must our neck, and this turn begins... on our hearts.

What's Love Got to Do With It? (P. Vaethanan)

8/11/2024

Jewish life centers on love – not like, honor or respect, but love. Love is the core of our creed (V'ahavta), Torah's literal center ("Love your neighbor as yourself"), and the most repeated admonition in sacred Jewish text ("love the stranger, for you were a stranger").

But how can love be commanded? How can any true love be required, especially if the world feels unlovely to us? What kind of love is that?

Turns out, this kind of love is most important of all.

Our Choice Not to Fear? (P. Devarim)

8/4/2024

Fear doesn't seem like an emotion we choose. Whether we experience fear as an overpowering wave, a dull ache in the gut or something else, we rarely go looking for fear. Even so, especially so, our existential choice in this season, especially this year, is whether we will choose to allow fear to inhibit us. Our answer matters utterly now.

Rabbi's Corner – August 2024: For the Sake of Ascent

8/1/2024

Our long, luxurious summer continues, yet already change is afoot. This month brings the Great Turning of Judaism's spiritual year. It's something that maybe many of us never knew in our Jewish lives. The Great Turning runs like a background program – just under the surface, animating the flow of spiritual time. It heralds hope from despair and resilience from the bottom of a well ...

... which is exactly what we need right now.

Our Own Way? (P. Re'eh)

The Neck's Cure is the Heart (P. Eikev)

What's Love Got to Do With It? (P. Vaethanan)

Our Choice Not to Fear? (P. Devarim)

Rabbi's Corner – August 2024: For the Sake of Ascent

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