October 9th, 2015/26 Tishrei 5776 In the beginning, there were only words. From the primordial darkness, the words of creation echoed through the universe, and brought with them separation. Separation of light from darkness, earth from sky, good from evil. One side always opposite the other. But along with this separation, this separateness, relationship and […]

December 18th, 2015/6 Tevet 5776 To bless the new moon at the proper time is like greeting the Divine Presence — Talmud, Sanhedren 42a I don’t know why, but I seem to spend more time looking at the moon in the winter. As I head outside into the cold of night, the light of the […]

December 11th, 2015/29 Kislev 5776 In this week’s Torah portion, we find Joseph stuck in Pharaoh’s prison. The Egyptian leader has been having dreams, yet he and none of his advisors can figure out their meaning, so he calls on Joseph to interpret them. Joseph hears the dreams and says that Egypt will undergo a […]

October 23rd, 2015/10 Cheshvan 5776 “Don’t stop after beating the swords into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating and make musical instruments out of them. Whoever wants to make war again will have to turn them into plowshares first.” – Yehuda Amichai, Israeli Poet I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen. I was hoping that we […]

One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something. – Henry David Thoreau Sometimes in the Torah, the smallest and most seemingly insignificant people and moments can have the biggest impact. This week, we begin the story of Joseph, the Torah’s longest continuous narrative (and one that has been made […]