I just got back from Brigadoon. That’s how I’ve begun to think of the annual Ohalah conference. It’s the winter jamboree of Jewish Renewal rabbis from around the world. The week felt like being at a yeshivah, not of the old kind, but a yeshivah as you might imagine it in Olam Haba, in Paradise. Rabbis and students of all ages and genders. All of them with a hand in the old texts and an eye on the future of the planet. Progressive people, creative people, mystics and musicians.
Read moreThe Angel and the Shepherd
Moshe, still in hot pursuit of the baby goat, splashed right through the puddle of predicament that was the angel Zagnugael. And in that moment, the messenger heard his thoughts.
Read moreChanukah 5776: Being the Light
I have been stuck with the lurking thought that somehow, as we have our umpteenth post-shooting debrief, we're missing a bigger picture. That what's going on is bigger than we admit, the arc much longer, the cycles ancient and unstoppable.
Read moreThe View from the Ladder
While Jacob is pinned to the ground by gravity, the holiness that circulates through him gets a higher, better, longer view. It escapes the particulars of Jacob's life and Jacob's fears and Jacob's habitual thinking. And perched above those things, it has a chance to bring back something fresh.
Read moreThe Renewable Resource of Reciprocal Blessing
...But blessing can be so much more! How do we use blessing to bring more peace to the world? How do we bless in ways that are more expansive and imaginative than Isaac was able to muster? How do we outwit the jinni?
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