Guest Blog for Purim Holiday:
The Mask I Wear
by Melanie Gruenwald
My child’s cancer diagnosis abruptly halted reflection on my own post-cancer body and soul. But after he died, it came roaring back. In Kabbalah this semester, we are studying “Masks”. What masks do we wear in our lives? And do we wear our masks or do they wear us…? This is the second level course […]
Final Jeopardy
You may not recognize the photo or even the name Randy Pausch. He died at age 47 from pancreatic cancer. During the final year of his life he shared with the world his Last Lecture—On Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. His inspired talk, as he said each time he delivered it, “is not about death, it’s […]
2020 Vision
Back in 2001, following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers there were Kabbalah teachers who pointed out a prophecy in the Zohar predicting “the fall of (three) towers in the city of Rome.” What was most impressive in that text was the date listed (that section of the Zohar was written no later […]
Word Cloud
You don’t believe in God? And I said, No. I believe in this connection we all have to nature, to each other, to the universe. And she said, Yeah, God. And how we stood there, low beasts among the white oaks, Spanish moss, and spider webs, obsidian shards stuck in our pockets, woodpecker flurry, and […]
Mary Poppins Returns
What was your most significant moment of 2018? It does not have to be a moment—it could be several moments or a “moment” that unfolds and is interconnected with other moments. It was over fifty years ago that my parents took me to the theater to see Mary Poppins. I was seven years old […]
Keeping Fire with Fire
It’s not too late To say goodbye To the darkness of hate So tonight We light eight To keep our Hope and vision straight Let us add more light So our love can burn bright On this last Chanukah night Give a loved one a sweet hug And hold them close and tight No matter […]
Persona non gratitude
Credit: Shadow Sculpture by Tim Noble and Sue Webster Many years ago I met a Mom from Colorado Springs who donated the heart of her young son as a life-saving transplant . Typically, the donor family does not know who receives the organ, but in this case, the recipient of her son’s heart was a […]
They Came For
Where do we want society to move towards? Mayor of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto provided this answer following the mass murder of 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue this past Saturday morning: “It is not about finding ways to divide us, it is about finding ways that unite us through our commonalities as humans. […]
Sealed with a Kiss: Eulogy for Bob Loup
Based on the Song of Songs (Chapter 8: 6-7) We place you Bob as a seal upon our hearts We place you Bob as a seal upon our arms For love is truly stronger than death A fire whose flame burns eternally For all the waters of the world Cannot extinguish our love for you Rita […]
Celebrating and Mourning Bob Loup
To Our KE community: The man of a thousand lives slipped into another realm early Thursday morning. Bob Loup, a long-time student of KE whose daily meditation practice was “D’layt Atar Panuey Menay” (There is no place empty of You) was my surrogate Dad and the surrogate Zayde (grandfather) to our young girls. There is […]