Category: Time

Commanding Joy When the World is a Mess? (P. Terumah)

2/15/2026

Nobody needs me to confirm that vast swaths of our world burn like a raging dumpster fire.

Judaism is about reality-based reality. We do not pretend away trouble or turn a blind eye. We certainly do not fiddle while Rome burns.

Yet even so – precisely so – the Jewish calendar encodes a radical and wise spiritual practice starting now, linked to this week's Torah portion, that at first blush can seem oddly un-real and ill-fitting when the world is a dumpster fire.

The practice is one of Judaism's sometimes overlooked superpowers: elevating joy amidst all.

The Bittersweet Fickleness of Faith (P. Beshallah)

1/25/2026

Even the most faithful among us have times of forgetting, doubting and disbelieving. Lifelong learning, gratitude and perspective suddenly can fly out the window.

Even the most faithless among us have times of belief that challenge rationalism, atheism and all other -isms. Clutched certainty of disbelief, and with it clarity about how life is, suddenly can fall like a castle of sand.

Our bittersweet fickleness of faith, faithlessness and everything in between is eminently human. What if we lean into them – all of them?

What's In a Name? (P. Vaera)

1/11/2026

We call our beloveds by many names. Whether a given name, an adopted name, a "pet" name or something else, each name encodes a special relationship and a story about it.

Why should it be different for the Beloved that we call God?

It's not. "God" isn't a Name but a role, a function. As for the Name of God – the One goes by many names.

And each Name tells a profound story. That story is worth telling.

The Angelic Art of Redemption (P. Vayehi)

12/28/2025

Before it's all said and done, what do we make of the dust-ups, hurts, disappointments and dramas of our messy lives?

it's tempting to answer that we bear them as best we can, and even make meaning of them – and hopefully we do. But is there more?

Is there a way to redeem what happens in our lives? Is there a way to bless others by what we ourselves have become?

That's Jacob's last blessing, and ours – with bonus content from one of my students.

The Amazing Technicolor Hindsight Stories We Tell Ourselves (P. Vayeishev)

12/7/2025

Joseph's coat of many colors has become the stuff of art, parenting books, spiritual seeking and a now-timeless Broadway musical.

And wow, is it loaded! Perhaps Joseph's coat became such a Biblical icon precisely because it is so loaded.

Stitched into its amazing technicolor weave is a deep teaching about how we make meaning in our lives – and the stories we tell about what happens. In the process, this essentially human (and Jewish) project can't help but play a time-traveling trick on us that hides in plain sight.

It's worth revealing that hidden story (with bonus content from "The West Wing").

Between Fleeting and Forever: The Art of Time (P. Noah)

10/19/2025

Our experience of time is not linear. Whatever a clock tells us, long stretches can pass in a blink while some moments seem to last forever.

As we enter our annual calendar's peak autumn and the colder, darker months, perhaps we can open a window on how the Biblical Noah and his family felt aboard the ark. What might we learn about spiritualizing our experience of time?

Commanding Joy When the World is a Mess? (P. Terumah)

The Bittersweet Fickleness of Faith (P. Beshallah)

What's In a Name? (P. Vaera)

The Angelic Art of Redemption (P. Vayehi)

The Amazing Technicolor Hindsight Stories We Tell Ourselves (P. Vayeishev)

Between Fleeting and Forever: The Art of Time (P. Noah)

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