Kol yisrael arevim zeh lazeh. This oft-quoted Talmudic teaching – “All of Israel is responsible, one to another" (Babylonian Talmud, Shavuot 39a) – never resonated so deeply for me as when I said goodbye to family and friends in the winter of 2003-04 and set

Mishpachah (family). K’dushah (holiness). Ahavah (love). 

These elements comprise the essence of every life event, both joyous celebrations and times of sorrow. They are the ingredients of our most treasured relationships; they lie at the foundation of any

Sounds like the start of a joke, no?

Unfortunately, this powerful gathering was serious – deadly serious. More than 30,000 Americans will die in 2015, victims of gun violence. This after the 30,000 who have died each year in this country for many years.

I am

Orange Is the New Black protagonist Piper Chapman’s may no longer have a Jewish husband, but that doesn’t mean that Judaism isn’t a huge part of the new season of the Netflix hit.

Shavuot is an ideal time to contemplate the brit (covenant) that God made with the Israelites, and its impact on the Jewish experience to this day.

Standing at Mount Sinai, our ancestors answered as one: “All that God has spoken we shall do” (Exodus 19:8),

We find ourselves in the midst of the Omer, when we count off the days, and weeks, in between Passover and Shavuot. Last week, we celebrated the 33rd day of the Omer: Lag BaOmer. The journey begins with our liberation from Egypt. It concludes with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

May 26th will mark the Jewish festival of Lag BaOmer which – like, Shavuot and Hanukkah – is not mentioned in the Torah.

I remember the absence of sound,
deeper than silence
and more lonely,
like the moment just
before Creation,
all stretched and
attenuated, waiting,
except there was no time
to measure 
eternity,
so waiting was
Now.

I wait for God to
say my name,
so that I will

Cafe Spindel is a quaint café in the center of Bad Segeberg, Germany that used to house a wool-processing factory. Because it was an unseasonably warm and sunny late summer day when I visited, our host, Pastor Martin Pommerening, suggested we sit outside.

The