Writing on the Mirror
My husband and I have a quirky habit. We write notes on our bathroom mirrors with dry erase markers. This is a nice way to give a little love note in our normally busy (pre-COVID) lives “Love you! Have a great day!” Sometimes these notes are reminders “Call so-and-so. Shave. Trim Micah’s nails. Pick up […]
My Brother George
by Dr. David Sanders I wash my hands both night and day To keep the spread of COVID at bay For 20 seconds I lather, rinse and clean This has now become my new routine. With the fear of corona contagion, we have become accustomed to washing our hands. But there is another unseen […]
Counting Up
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 engaged in a process of ‘counting up’ and increased mindfulness of where we are on this journey from slavery to receiving the Torah at Sinai. […]
Mile High, Mile Wide
by Dr. David Sanders With the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the United States and Canada, professional basketball and hockey were postponed indefinitely and Major League Baseball is at best contemplating a fan-less truncated season. Die-hard football fans are still hoping that any given Sunday the National Football League will do more than announce the […]
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- in a sense of awareness and connection to our souls. We wear our given masks, and we wear masks we choose for ourselves. We wear […]
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 on the coast of Algeria, a virus spreads uncontrollably from animals to humans. Despite quarantines and efforts at isolation, the plague at its most virulent […]
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 acting with kindness. While the neural basis for contagious yawning is still not understood, the phenomena are not limited to humans, as it has been […]
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?’, its parallel in the second year curriculum. I deeply appreciate the themes that are woven between the classes, and the timeliness of these curricula for […]
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 speech. He was murdered the next day on the balcony of his Memphis hotel room. The speech is titled from the crescendo of his closing […]
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 of it because I had been given a box of Russell Stover candies as a gift the day before. The man who handed it to […]