Revisiting and Rededicating
Every May, Jewish American Heritage Month offers all of us the opportunity to more deeply engage with the three and a half centuries of Jewish life in the United States.
How We Can Embrace Those Struggling with Severe Depression
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to consider how we can help prevent and treat mental illness β including the agonizing scourge of clinical depression. Itβs also the month leading up to Shavuot, when we read the Book of Ruth. The story of Ruth and Naomi includes powerful lessons about how relationships and community can restore and sustain those facing difficult times.
Is Time Ours or Is It God's?
In Parashat Emor, the verses in Leviticus 23:1-44 name and describe the sacred times of the Jewish calendar: Shabbat, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and the Pilgrimage Festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Time becomes a holy thing, and the "normalcy" of time β of one day being no different than any other β is forever differentiated by the weekly Sabbath and by these special festive days.