Who Is Retiring?
Last night I discovered the mythical missing borough of New York. It did not float off from Manhattan as the father suggests to his son in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It is to be found in Evergreen, Colorado. I was invited to be scholar-in-residence at Beth Evergreen Synagogue and over dinner […]
Every Seven is a Reflection
For the past few years we have “counted the Omer” together—a 50 day count from Passover to the holiday of Shavuot. As Passover is “early” this year I thought it best to get started on thinking about the framework for this years’ counting. Following the tradition in Kabbalah—the weekly and even daily counts relate to […]
Life Measured Every Seven Years
Four years for some is a long time to wait and anticipate—the next election, the next World Cup or Olympics and the next leap year. For some the anticipated wait is even longer—when is the next installment of the Up Series coming out? The answer for the last 50 years has been consistent: every seven […]
Masked in Translation
If only I had time to read every book or article recommended, emailed or handed to me—this week though I read them all, watched a film and ordered four books. Milan Kundera’s The Art of the Novel was one such book placed into my hands this week—the invitation was to read essay number 6 entitled […]
Of Humans and Angels
The moon was crescent to the south side—a Cheshire like smile illuminating the hidden, yet visible outline of its entirety. She was rising in the west, a guide to last night’s destination—another encounter with the spiritual medium, our speaker on unmasking the self, Rebecca Rosen. Are we human beings on a spiritual journey or […]
Children and Violence
The petition circulated to you at the end of last week NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW. Please take 3 minutes (I timed it—it will require you to type a code in and then the White House will send you a link to add your name to the petition). The petition goes live once it garners 150 […]
The Power of One
Highlighting the amazing peace initiative by Ronny Edry last week had its own viral response by you. His story continued to spread throughout the United States via your contacts and friends. A principle of Kabbalah is at work: one small flame can serve to light up the darkness. This past week a virus has […]
Jyoti’s Light
I looked at those faces of young boys in India holding up placards No Rape and wondering what they understand about rape. As a boy I was introduced to the existence of rape rather early on—the bible has a number of stories about rape and to my teachers’ credit these stories were not glossed […]
Without a Calendar
The prediction that the world would end this past year on December 21st was an inaccurate portrayal of the Mayan culture’s very intricate and sophisticated solar calendar. Granted, the 13th baktun ended on that date (a baktun is 394 years) and all that is listed in the Mayan calendar is baktun 1-13. There is little […]
Teaching Love
William “Dave” Sanders was a computer and business teacher at Columbine High School for 25 years, and coach of the girls’ basketball and softball teams. When the gunmen started firing outside the school, Coach Sanders ran to the cafeteria and sounded the alarm. Along with two school’s janitors he helped get more than 100 students […]