Tefilla — written, prayed, broken open.
All year long we avoid our shadow, we avert our gaze from the many ways in which it falls upon others and robs them of the light… All year long we hide in the very tree we were warned against, we pretend to ourselves that our maker will not see us, does not want to … Read more
A rough sketch of the ‘amida: Through systematically developing a concept of the Creator and making that concept real through the act of dialogic address to the Creator, we bring about the redemption. First, we establish the grounds for the encounter – praise: the ancestral relationship, the omnipotence, the transcendance. Then, with those principles in … Read more
O ElLord of dreamsShow my soul your gardenOf cosmic vines heavy with starry fruit And trees five hundred years wideEver presently fragrant blossoms unfolding into infinityAngels hovering upon themPhotonic feathers rustling in the breezeFilled with the voices of your saintsGrant my soul dwelling for this nightAmidst the ethereal throngs gatheredBeneath your seven canopiesA seat from … Read more
Most blessings conclude in a participle – describing the Creator as the One who does things. The subsequent blessing after the Shema concludes with a perfect verb – describing the Creator as the One who liberated Yisrael. This unique praise of God expresses a fact of history: some 3700 years ago, the Creator intervened in … Read more
The siren started and my soul awoke. I prayed for rahamim, divine compassion. For the nation and for the souls of those who gave their lives for our future. I prayed that in their merit and in the merit of their good deeds, sacrifices, and ultimate sanctification of the idea of the God of life … Read more
“Why do you try to make everything shorter?” Because when I say less, I mean more. Because it’s important to balance everything. Because there’s a freedom in spontaneously adding, when the spirit moves me, within the pattern set by my ancestors.
May it be willed in Your imminent will That the insights You give me become commitments That the commitments become actions That the actions become insights For the glory of the great idea of You In Your world Forever and ever
Whenever you are sneezy Thinking clearly’s not so easy So the good Lord do we ask For some help with the task Amen
Yizkor is a memorial prayer for the departed that the hassidé Ashkenaz established as a reaction to the brutal losses suffered by the Ashkenazic communities during the crusades. It’s not my custom to say yizkor. I don’t think yizkor is appropriate to Yom Tob. I stepped out of the synagogue when they said yizkor. But … Read more
A meditation and a prayer. Last year, we were truly a mess on Yom haKippurim. Publicly fighting over how and where to sit during services, with acrimony and venom and self-righteousness and hatred. On the day when we should have been most united in love for each other and for our Creator, we showed our … Read more