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Explore reflections, teachings, and community updates from The Jewish Studio. Whether you’re deepening your understanding of Jewish tradition or seeking guidance for everyday life, you’ll find something meaningful here.
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Spaces and Spirit
Do we design spaces for our purposes or do we choose what we do because of the space? Does the space have good energy? Good lighting? Planners are always asking these questions, and they come to mind as we move from the end of the book of Exodus with all of the design details of…
March 14, 2016
Judaism on the Move
“Doesn’t anybody stay in one place any more?” sings Carole King lamenting a distant lover. Mobility is a defining characteristic of our modern world. An ever-evolving Judaism is one that to be sustainable must be portable. Once again, ancient Torah text offers modernity a message. In Parshat Pekudei closing the Book of Exodus (Shemot), our…
March 5, 2016
Building the Trusting Heart
Pretend you're designing and building a new state Capitol. Imagine in precise detail the stones, woodwork, glass, tools, glue, joints, wiring and metalwork you'd need: such immense architectural plans could fill books. Now imagine getting the materials – not with tax revenue or apportioning needs directly to people able to fulfill them, but simply by saying the…
February 27, 2016
Containing Fear
Some people see the world as rational and ordered, and yet bad things happen. Others see the world as a chaotic and unpredictable place full of terrible things. Some see the world in the control of God and the things that happen have a reason even if it is not comprehensible to mere mortals. Others…
February 21, 2016
Pomegranates and Bells
The key to a happy life? Being able to ride that sine curve of life's ups and downs. Happiness comes from modulating our awareness between the abundance of life and our fear of death. Like walking away from a car crash or getting a cancer free diagnosis, facing mortality brings mindfulness about what life has…
February 13, 2016
A Space for Spirit
Perspective is everything. How we see the world – our point of view – shapes how the world affects us and thus how we live. The opposite also is true: how we live shapes what we see. The two come together in a holy handshake, with profound implications for Jewish spirituality, what Jews believe and how we…
February 7, 2016
Snowed In and Shabbat
Do you remember being a child and the feeling of waking up in the morning to discover that school was closed and being “gifted” a snow day? An unscheduled release from the routine and especially the chance to play outside until your fingers froze through your gloves rather than be sitting inside working at school.…
February 2, 2016
Can You Hear Me Now?
What best grabs your attention? Do you focus most intently upon what you see? Our primary stimulation comes through our eyes. Yet, spiritual engagement often comes when we close our eyes and open our ears. Seeing is not always believing! Hearing is the sense by which Judaism seeks most to engage us. Even our most…
January 25, 2016
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
It never fails. At first we feel gratitude for gifts and blessings, but memory fades and gratitude drains. We're not ingrates, but recall and attention are limited: life naturally gets in the way. Forgetfulness is the human condition: let's call it spiritual amnesia. For most of us living workaday lives, spirituality isn't what drives us…
January 16, 2016
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