by Melanie Gruenwald At the beginning of April, we began counting the Omer, the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. As we count each day of the Omer, we are …
Mile High, Mile Wide
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
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The Masks We Wear
“Are you wearing the mask, or is the mask wearing you?” In our second year course on Masks: Who are you?, we explore the many layers of masks we wear- …
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The Plague
by David Sanders I have a thin monograph of The Plague, by Albert Camus, in my bookshelf for some 40 years. Set in the spring of 1947 in a town …
Panicea
What do yawning, laughter, enthusiasm, and kindness share in common? They all can be referred to as infectious. Neuroscientists have measured through brain scans the contagious impact of viewing others …
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For Koby, who always found Light in Darkness
One of the beautiful arrangements of my teaching schedule this semester, is that I teach ‘Soul: Intro to Kabbalah’ of the Year 1 curriculum immediately before ‘Masks: Who are you?’, …
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The Accuracy of Being Happy
Does it matter so much about the accuracy of recollections or more about the impact of what happened? Every year, around this time, I listen to Martin Luther King’s final …
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Receiving Russell
by David Sanders The box of Russell Stover assorted fine chocolates was so large it was impossible for it go unnoticed on the supermarket shelf. I took special note …
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Gratitude on a Full Stomach
On Thanksgiving, our family joined hundreds of others in downtown Philadelphia, bringing Thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate, with an organization called “Manna.” We traversed the city in two cars- …
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From Boy to Joy
The innovations of the Kabbalists in Tzfat some 500 years ago were often based on observations that led to their intuitive insights. In this regard, they were as much …