Dear Family of Friends,
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been part of this community for a full year. During the first service I led at Congregation Agudath Achim in March 2024, I had an experience that one might have expected to be a bad sign for future employment, but was in truth exactly the opposite.
Mystical wisdom is famous for being elusive and hard to grasp, but in our weekly Kabbalah class we have found the ideas to be deeply resonant to our modern lives. In this column, I share a brief introduction to three concepts: the expansive love of Chesed, the bounding power of Gevurah, and the beauty of Tiferent, which balances, incorporates, and integrates them in compassion.
“In every generation,” we say on Passover, “we must see ourselves as if we, personally, left Egypt.” The traditional Haggadah goes on to clarify that this is because “had the Holy One of Blessing not liberated our ancestors from bondage in Egypt, then we, and our children, and our children’s children, would still be slaves Continue Reading »
“When Adar begins, we multiply our joys.” — Talmud, Tractate Ta’anit 29a Dear Family of Friends, Jewish commandments are generally about actions, not feelings. For instance: we consider giving to the poor to be an action of tzedakah – from the Hebrew word “tzedek,” meaning justice, rather than an act of charity, from the Latin word caritas, meaning Continue Reading »
Dear Family of Friends, There is a beautiful passage in the traditional morning liturgy, one of several in which we imagine ourselves singing with the choir of ministering angels who forever intone “holy, holy, holy” before the throne of glory: “Each of them is beloved, each of them is pure, each of them is mighty and Continue Reading »
Dear Family of Friends, In last month’s column, I introduced you to two rabbis from the Talmud: the literal-minded Shammai, who lit his Hanukkah menorah with eight candles on the first night, removing one each subsequent night to commemorate the decreasing oil, and the more subtle Hillel, who began with a single candle and increased Continue Reading »
Dear family of friends, Hanukkah doesn’t begin this year until the end of December, but the season of darkness is already upon us, and we find ourselves in need of kindling lights. In this time of year when the nights are at their longest, we can draw inspiration from the Maccabees. The Talmud tells us that Continue Reading »
Dear Family of Friends, I have heard from many people that these past High Holiday services were a particularly beautiful experience for them, and I must say that they were deep and moving for me as well. It is written in the Talmud (Berachot 63b) that “Torah is only acquired in community,” and indeed, any successes Continue Reading »
Dear Family of friends, As the the long-anticipated High Holidays finally arrive, I’d like to share with you a parable attribute to the 19th century Hasidic rabbi Hayyim of Zans: A man had been wandering about in a forest for several days, not knowing which was the right way out. Suddenly he saw a man Continue Reading »
This year there is almost an entire month between Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah. This gives us time to prepare. Not just time to send our Shanah Tova cards, or plan our holiday menus, but to prepare ourselves spiritually.
