A Letter of Gratitude to My Local Synagogue: "I Was Filled with Hope"
I told them, "As someone who is in the process of return to Temple Israel, I wanted to briefly share what a meaningful experience I had for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur services."
Jewish Holidays
Songs and Videos for Celebrating Simchat Torah
One of most wonderful aspects of Simchat Torah is celebrating the joy of children and families dancing and singing with our Torah scrolls. While we will be unable to dance together in person, we invite you to play the following videos or audio files and dance in your homes.
It's Sukkot, Let's Vote: The Letter I Wrote to My Neighbors about Our Sukkah
Hi, neighbors!
If you take a peek through our fence, you’ll see what’s called a – a temporary wooden booth we put up each fall during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Sukkot in a Time Of Pandemic: A Poem
This year, even if you do not have a sukkah to visit, you can still experience the kavanah (intention) and the ruach (spirit) of Sukkot.
It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic to Return Us to Ourselves
As 5781 begins, I find that the less I do, the better I feel. The more I am myself. The more at-home I am within my own body, my own mind. There is no glory in constant exhaustion and fatigue.
Yachol Nuchal, Surely We Can Overcome
Do we see ourselves and this moment as grasshoppers, or do we jump on top of our chairs and say “Yachol nuchal, surely we can overcome this”?
An Open Letter to Those Who are Struggling with an Eating Disorder at Yom Kippur...
At Yom Kippur, we wish one another "a safe and easy fast," but for those of us with eating disorders, it will be neither safe nor easy. It will be dangerous, but more so detrimental.
On Running Away, Returning, and Teaching the Story of Jonah
We hear the story of Jonah on Yom Kippur, as an example of the power of repentance and redemption. But my favorite thing about this story is how perfectly messy it is to heed God's call.
Shards of Glass: A Poem for the New Year
Remind my tired soul, I beg You / My kitchen is far too clean and the china is still in the basement / Remind me how to stop the mourning / for tables that don’t need extensions / quiet synagogues with no children to be shushed...
With Wounds Still Open, We Ask: Where is God?
I do not believe that God sent us COVID-19, and I do not believe God will cure it. That is for humans to do, using our God-given intellect and ambition to develop the vaccines and treatments that will help stop the spread of this natural virus.