Why don’t Jews count people? No sooner do we count ourselves than we notice our extreme vulnerability and ephemerality in this life and this world. And thus the inherent bravery implied in the phrase “stand up and be counted.”
Read moreSwoon of Shechinah
Esther Before Ahasuerus, by Artemisia Gentileschi, ca. 1630.
Unlike some depictions, Esther had no need to swoon when she entered Achashverosh's throne room. After all, she was garbed in Shechinah.
Read moreRobed in Malkhut: The Hidden and Revealed in Esther (and Us)
Esther reveals as much as she conceals. Take this drag queen’s word for it. (A piece written for Evolve.)
In the Oasis
We are in a kind of oasis moment right now. A place of respite does not need to be the perfect place or the best place. It just needs to be enough. And the relief and rest we feel will be real.
Read moreOrdination and Lamentation
After years, months, weeks, days of anticipation, I was ordained as a rabbi last Sunday, wearing a tallit that had belonged to my beloved lifelong rabbi, Mark S. Shapiro. The next day, the world lost Steve Shapiro – his son and my friend.
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