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A Spiritual Time Out
This week we have a double portion, Tazria and Metzora. They both deal with the reasons for creating boundaries of time and space, and fixes due to being tamae, ritually unsure, or tahor, ritually, pure. For many who look at these two portions, they seem confusing, unsophisticated, and sexist. These are two of my favorite…
Eat Your Way to Holiness
Tragedies often leave us bewildered and disaffected. But Torah offers profound lessons in the wake of seemingly inexplicable tragedy. In parashat Shemini, the text details eight days of dedication ceremonies for the beautiful new mishkan, God’s tangible abode, including lots of animal sacrifices. At its end, the oldest sons of the High Priest, Aaron, make…
All in: body, heart and soul
Among the reasons that Jewish yoga and chant cultivate loyal followings is their focus on the body as a spiritual portal. After centuries of Jewish focus on matters of the mind (study) and spirit (prayer), we are rediscovering the spirituality of embodied corporeal life. Passover – especially the last day, when tradition celebrates the trek…
Great Seders, Less Stress
Ideas to Make Your Passover Seder Great By Johanna Potts Reduce the Passover Seder stress with these ideas on how to make your Seder great. In fact the Seder within its own structure gives you some direction. For example, the point of reading about four children and their approaches to the Seder is to say…
The Freedom of Now
by Rabbi David Evan Markus as posted in My Jewish Learning on March 19. When does time begin? What does time measure? What came before the beginning? Such mind-bending questions evoke timeless truths especially relevant at this moment in the Jewish year. Humans mark space and time from origins. Moderns traveling east or west across the…
Leadership Change: Front and Center
by Rabbi Evan Krame Moses hands off spiritual leadership to his brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons in Parashat Tzav (Leviticus Chapter 8 : 2 - 5) in a very public ceremony, He becomes a facilitator for Aaron and his sons to assume the priestly roles, thus signaling a profound change in leadership structures. At first I wondered…
Hello, is that God Calling? (Vayikra)
Rabbi David Evan Markus The opening of Torah’s middle book, Vayikra (Leviticus), asks a hidden question that is perhaps the most important question in Jewish spiritual life. Torah’s story of liberation and wandering goes on hiatus, shifting to our ancestors’ ancient cultic rites. Before relaying that narrative, Torah begins: “God called to Moses and spoke to him from…
Sacred Time
We speak of sacred time and sacred space as if they exist on their own. But they don't - their sacred nature is an attribute that we impose or imbue them with. We can easily ignore Shabbat and treat it like any of the other six days in the week - there is nothing inherent…
The State of Judaism
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, founder of CLAL and interpreter of Judaism as a Modern Orthodox Rabbi, recently gave a "State of Judaism" talk in San Francisco. After assessing the problems, including that nearly 90% of Jews in the Bay area have no Jewish affiliation, his advice was the following: 1. We must re-articulate the Jewish narrative. We…
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