Blessing My Bended Knees-A Poem
This past week, I participated in a Ritualwell class with Alden Solovy on “Writing From One Word of Torah.” I distilled 3 stream-of-consciousness prompts on the word “Baruch/Berekh,” the root of which can mean “blessing’ and “knee, into this poem.
The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives
An email from My Jewish Learning about “A Woman of Valor” prompted me to pivot the next evening’s planned adult learning session to looking at these 22 verses from Mishlei, the Book of Proverbs. These verses comprise a song called Eshet Chayil…
Live Long and Prosper?
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha has a point; at what point does life become wearying? When does the joy go out of our lives, and when does a long life become a too-long life? Or from the perspective of a younger person, like Rabbi Yehuda haNasi, has the elder become irrelevant?
Ending Hanukkah, A Ritual
when a lit candle is used to light other candles, that first candle’s flame doesn’t diminish; rather each flame becomes whole unto itself.
Sukkah and the Olympics, How Does The Wind Blow?
How can reading something in the Talmud, from 2,000 years ago, give us insight into how we look at things today.
Latest Sermons
Rosh Hashanah 5786-We Almost Weren’t Born
Rabbi David Wolpe, in “Teaching Your Children About God,” wrote the following: “A woman once stood before God, her heart breaking from the pain and injustice in the world. “Dear God,” she cried out, ‘look at all the suffering, the anguish, and distress in your world....
Hope is Winding a Clock
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5786 As I was walking on the platform of the Malverne train station recently, I noticed a sign for a suicide hotline that said, “Your pain is real. So is hope.” We’re here this evening on the cusp of a new year, of 5786, hoping to be inscribed in...
Who Is A Jew? Identity In The Wilderness
This d'var Torah was written for the website of the Academy for Jewish Religion (ajr.edu) A few years ago, for Mother’s Day, my kids gave me a DNA-testing kit from Ancestry.com. Not surprisingly, the results came back as 99% Ashkenazi Jewish with 1% various...
Latest Midrash HaZak
Chukat: The Red Heifer and Our Stuff, Rabbi Andra Greenwald
Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe on Flickr Chukat: The Red Heifer and Our Stuff Rabbi Andra Greenwald Is it sacrilegious to feel that some pieces of the Torah just don’t make sense? In parshat Chukat, the Law of the Red Heifer presents us with one of the statutes for which...
Devarim: The Power of Retelling, Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman
Image from Medfield, MA public library, wallaceshealy-com-OPvCP3-clipart The Power of Retelling Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak to a university class about being one of the first generation of women and queer rabbis. At these kinds of...
Mattot: What Words Can Create, Ilene Winn-Lederer
Illustration ©2009-Ilene Winn-Lederer Mattot: What Words Can Create Ilene Winn-Lederer Although I grew up with a strong Jewish identity, I did not experience a traditional Jewish education and came to Torah in my late teens through influential involvement with a...
Latest Personal Blogs
Blessing My Bended Knees-A Poem
This past week, I participated in a Ritualwell class with Alden Solovy on "Writing From One Word of Torah." I distilled 3 stream-of-consciousness prompts on the word "Baruch/Berekh," the root of which can mean "blessing' and "knee, into this poem. Blessing my bended...
The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives
Photo: publicdomainpictures.net The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives An email from My Jewish Learning about “A Woman of Valor” prompted me to pivot the next evening’s planned adult learning session to looking at these 22 verses from Mishlei, the Book of Proverbs. These verses...
Live Long and Prosper?
By Oklahoma Heritage Association, Gaylord-Pickens Museum - Author, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25656727 Live Long and Prosper? January 5, 2022 began the third year of the seven and a half-year cycle of Daf Yomi, the practice of...