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The fringes of your life
I recall in the 1960s when fringes were all the fashion. In their essence, fringes are threads that move loosely. Whether an adornment for beaded moccasins or brocade draperies, the imperfect fringes were understood to enhance beauty. Fringes are a contrast to the smoothness of the adorned material. It seems that imperfection can be used to enhance…
The Mirror’s Reflection
This is the beginning of the month of Elul, the month that precedes the holiday-packed month of Tishrei. It is now that we begin sounding the shofar daily, signaling that it is the time to prepare for the transformation we hope to make in the coming year. First we must look into our spiritual mirror…
What might God see?
This week’s Torah portion (Re’eh, "See!") recaps key aspects of Jewish tradition – monotheism, freedom, holidays and dietary laws. Perhaps its most important line, however, is a deceptively simple call: “After YHVH your God you will walk" (Deut. 13:5). What might it mean in our day to "walk in God's ways"? It seems straightforward to follow something physical: the Book of Exodus ends with…
What Bible are you reading?
Were the Bible written today, it might include wisdom on start-up businesses, communitarian governance, positive psychology and organizational skills. At least those are the "bibles" I notice people reading around me nowadays. To the modern purveyors of how-to business literature, success often means not only financial reward but also position in the industry, innovating for the future and…
Breaking Bad and Getting Good
Is the key to a good life found in following the rules? For example, consider the rules of suburbia: study hard in good schools, work hard at our professions, care for our bodies and obey the laws. We assure ourselves that if we live by these rules, we are likely to succeed. Some of us have suffered the consequence…
See What is Before You
See the path of your life. Really see it. What do you see? Do you like what you see? If not, what readiness do you need to change it? This week's Torah portion (Dvarim) heralds the approach of Tisha b'Av, commemorating the destruction of the Temple and countless other tragedies in Jewish history. It also heralds Shabbat…
Words with Friends
Words have power. Reputations can be created or destroyed by a 144 character tweet. Words connecting us to God had power for our biblical ancestors, as reflected in the third commandment to not swear falsely by Y-H-V-H's name. And by Balaam's inability to undo his unintentional blessing of the Israelites - "how goodly are your…
Demand Your Share!
Women and Men are equal. Why would I even need to write those words? The Torah reading for this week, Pinchas, incorporates a story of a rung on the ladder to climb a wall toward such equality. We have not yet finished the climb. We read that the five daughters of a man named Zelophehad…
The Devil We Know
For all of Torah's miracles large and small, this week's story of a talking donkey who sees an angel is perhaps Torah's most magical and childlike narrative. In its words lurks a profound secret that touches (and challenges) the core of our adult sense of good and evil, right and wrong. Parshat Balak is named for a king who…
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