Melanie Gruenwald

A student sent me the following: A paraprosdokian (from Greek meaning “beyond expectation”) is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or reinterpret the first part. She included a number Read more…

“And the seasons they go round and round.”  Cantor Marty Goldstein created the mood for our Tu B’Shevat Seder last week by starting us off (warming us up) with this Joni Mitchell classic. So, are we captured “on a carousel of time?” Brian Greene , the physicist from Columbia University Read more…

In the lower worlds, “necessity is the mother of invention”.  In the higher worlds, “innovation is the mother of invention.”  There was no necessity that inspired the kabbalists of Tzfat to invent the Tu B’Shvat seder.  It is cold in Tzfat in the winter.  A good time to stay home, Read more…

“I love the morning after, the leftovers, just you and the leftovers.”  In describing the metaphors of his life –‘my relationship with food’-Denver Post food critic Tucker Shaw kept returning to the theme of leftovers.  At his Kabbalah Live talk last week, he revealed that leftovers were the bond between Read more…