Call My Name
King Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe was a man of peace. He welcomed the “white” settlers to his land. As a King he sold them land. Soon enough the settlers were so many in number they stopped buying land—they just took it. Native American leaders had choices—but those who could see ahead knew that their […]
Hope is a Breath Away
Swirling in my head, deep fear in every cell of my body, I am looking for hope. Hope is a flame we need to keep alive. A baby is born on this planet every time you breathe in. That is hope. A child dies or is killed on every outbreath you take. That is despair. […]
The Whole Me
The black and white photo to the left is dated 1965. Does that help in identifying who the mother and child are? If you know that the mother’s first name is Ruthie and that she named her son Mark help you with their identity? I began last week to address our insufficient language around race […]
Ayin of Ma-du-ah
Last week we raised questions about the Hebrew words for “why?” — maduah ( Mem-Dalet-Vav-Ayin) and lamah (Lamed-Mem-Heh). We want to explore what these different ways of asking “why” mean and how the letter Ayin, the letter for the month of Tevet, might help us appreciate the word maduah. Rabbi Avraham Trugman responds to […]
Start Spreading the News
When your campaign or video “goes viral,” as was the case with the (ice) bucket challenge, it is great news. The word virus, etymologically, comes from a meaning of the flow of poison. It has come to mean the spread of something (for example an infectious disease or idea) by the means of replication. Replication […]
Touched by a Torah
A few years back I received a call from then assistant Rabbi of Temple Sinai, Jay Tel-Rav, wondering if I could take a look at a manuscript. He was not sure what is was but he was definite: it was a Kabbalah text. I had a few moments between classes and he was but a […]
The Stopping Place
“There had to be a stopping place,” she said, “and this seemed to be the place for me to stop being pushed around. I had decided that I would have to know once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen, even in Montgomery, Alabama.” For Rosa Parks […]
Blue Monday
“Let the past year and its cursed images end.” Is this prayer a naïve hope? Did we think that when we said this prayer on Rosh Hashanah, reflecting on the disturbing images of so much suffering this past year that this year would be different? Was it our intention that this year would bring us […]
Developing the Negative
There is an old and odd traditional prayer said at the beginning of the New Year—it is found in the Sephardic liturgy and it’s refrain is: “Let this year and its curses (come to an) end.” In the past we have heard of murders and rapes, we have listened to people’s accounts of atrocities and […]
Chasing Peace
For those wanting to access a copy of the KE Rosh Hashanah Prayer Book it is accessible here: http://bit.ly/Y4jV3x I received two emails yesterday, the next to last day of the year 5774 in Jewish Time. One was from a man who was in class with me for a very brief time some six […]