Standing Outside With Everyone Else
Moses was stuck outside the Tabernacle with the people who built it. He understood at that moment the message of the Half Shekel, or, my fifty cents. He was not standing as the great Moses or the awesome Moses who could meet with God in Heaven. He stood outside as one of the people who all contributed a Half Shekel, fifty cents. It was at that moment that Moses became the most humble of men. I can almost hear the coins jingling in his pocket.
Wings of Desire
Who are these beings? Why do they play such important roles in the stories of Genesis? Why are the stories of the beginnings of humanity so rich with characters so unfamiliar?
Making Amends
Torah is to be taught as healing, as a relationship, as nurturing. It is this Torah I love and that gives me life.
The Foundation Stone: Parshat Mikeitz
Could Judah really expect the Viceroy to grasp his subtle threats & insults when translated? He didn't.
Listening for What We Don’t Know
Absolute truth is dangerous in the hands of people who do not realize how much they do not know. Just as I cringe when someone declares that he knows the reason for the Holocaust, I shudder when people authoritatively declare people they don't know to be heretics and sinners. Knowing that I don't know opens the door to listening and learning, an opportunity to discover more about God, people, and me.
Framing Our Vision
Having 'real' vision permits an entirely different, improved view of events and the world.
Collecting Chance Encounters
Once I learned to treat every person I meet as more than chance and as an opportunity, I was able to expand my collection of superheroes.
You Count
A devar torah you can 'count on.' Shabbat Shalom from the Foundation Stone
Between Hope & Despair
The Tisha b'Av experience is a spiritual affliction, "Acedia," a "sadness, a disgust with life, which comes from our inability to get along with ourselves, our disunion with God."
When Earth Touches Heaven
The true definition of holiness is to cross the boundary between heaven and earth. We are forbidden to combine species connecting their lowest common denominators, their purely earthly definitions. We are encouraged to make combinations that allow each world to meet beyond their highest common denominators so that, together, they can connect heaven and earth.
Betwixt & Between
Chag Sameach-Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut and Shabbat Shalom
Trust-but Verify
Esau handled the meeting with Jacob far more grace than most people manage an argument with a spouse. Not bad behavior for a person we are taught is one of the most evil biblical characters!
Without Intimidation
On Parshat Vayeishev with a nod to Chanukah.
Dreams, Naps & Promises
If I had Jacob's dream, I would not have been able to go back to sleep, and, I'd like to believe that I would have responded to the historic promises rather than make a conditional promise emphasizing bread and clothes. I would expect a "Thank You," from Jacob, instead of falling asleep and then playing "Let's Make A Deal,"
Infectious Gratitude
Learning to give THANKS and preparing ourselves for Pesach.
Heaven and Earth
Jacob did not have problems with 'doorways.' He experienced one emotional earthquake after another, and managed to maintain focus. No 'event boundary' issues for our hero. How did he do it?
The Foundation Stone: Parshat Bamidbar: Archeological Flags
Revelation both Divine and self. Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach
The Journey of Halacha
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the teacher of the Zohar who we honor on Lag B'Omer, plants seeds of infinite growth in our minds so each of us can begin our time travel with Torah with a taste of her eternally expanding wisdom embedded in our souls
Hearing To See
Re'ei is about the opportunity to restore the 'Hearing To See; rejected by Adam and Eve, and again by Israel at Revelation. If we master the higher hearing of Eikev, we will be granted the clear Vision offered in Re'ei.
Offering A Gift
We stand in the final moments of 5777, prepared to transition to 5778, perfect moments to offer our gift to God, honoring all we have gained over the past year, and how we intend to apply that growth in the future, using the coming year to grow in ways yet unimaginable to us.
Building The Stage
Balak was furious. Balaam was defeated in his mind by a greater prophet, Moses, who would record Balaam's words and shame for eternity, despite not being present at the performances. Rather than perform his blessings or curses, Balaam projected a picture of the future with his ideas in it; he offers his vision of the End of Days (14) with all his hints to Israel's future failings hidden within his words of praise.
What to do with IT
Understanding time, tefillin, and Torah and how they inexorably lead to: Empowerment
Becoming
I finished reading that the Israeli chief rabbinate invalidating numerous conversions, opened the weekly portion, and enjoyed a hearty chuckle when I remembered that the portion of Revelation and the Ten Statements is named for a convert, a failed one, Yitro. Things sure have changed.
Choosing The Right Outfit
The questions about appropriate clothing should not begin with the externals, thecostumes, but with our inner lives, our growth, aspirations, beliefs; what do we see when we look at our souls?
An Honest Inward Look
It is Judah's honesty that triggers Joseph's decision to reveal his identity.
Celebrating The Non-Celebrated
There are many who celebrate the wise, the heroes, and the mystics, and they forget that we must also celebrate the typically non-celebrated, the people who keep the spirit alive, the very spirit that nurtures the more celebrated.
A Sense Of Place
This week's portion, Re'ei, speaks of our need for a sense of place, how difficult it often is to find, and how we must protect others' sense of place. It also guides us in how to manage the experience of no place
Mysterious Magic
The Tabernacle was more dangerous than the Red Heifer because absolutely everything about its construction and functioning seems so mysterious
Mighty Compassion
When we understand that the greatest expression of God's might is God's compassion, we open ourselves to receive the gift of Lives of Compassion. Once we have been granted Lives of Compassion; compassion for others and for ourselves we can become a society united in compassion, and wickedness will evaporate.
Rereading
Purim Sameiach!
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