The Manning Behind the Mask
Growing up I had a collection of miniature plastic football helmets. They were my treasure. I loved the colors and the emblems. Most survived. That was my football legacy, a dozen or so plastic replicas of helmets of teams I watched play during my childhood. I gave the collection to my son as a gift. […]
Sand in Your Pocket
Yesterday on the way to teaching class my cell phone rang. My policy is to not answer the phone when I don’t recognize the number. I ignored it—my policy that is–to encounter a woman’s voice on the line. In the recesses of my cortex connected to voice recognition the name came to my vocal chords. […]
Because Who Is Perfect
There are stories that stick with you and this one about Moses Mendelssohn has been in the file system of my brain for some 30 years. It took just three words to find it on google: Moses Mendelssohn love. I relayed the story last week in class and enjoyed finding it with a bit more […]
The Rhyme of the Ancient Mime
He said “time will be my judge” He left without a trace Of regret or words unspokenEvery crease upon his face The delight and pain of grooves Etched in pantomime Filled space Enter silence you will Feel him For movement was his grace To express the finiteness of our personal existence, Yoga tradition […]
Crossing the Tight Rope
The slow food movement launched a clever new Ad Campaign to heighten people’s awareness of the use of hormones and anti-biotics in the fattening and immunizing of factory farmed animals: “You eat what your food eats. Make sure its natural.” The safe sex movement got this awareness going a few decades ago with spreading […]
Being Centered
“Being centered” is a phrase that is used to connote being at peace, being whole. In mythology, the world has its center as well—a geographic center from which creation flows. In the Jewish tradition this center is Jerusalem—Yerushalayim–the city of peace or wholeness. In Greek mythology that center is Delphi—the center of mother earth. In […]
Why You Were Born
Early in the movie Slumdog Millionaire the main character as a participant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire needs to answer the question: What motto is inscribed on India’s national emblem? The answer stuck with me: Truth alone triumphs. In Jewish tradition there is a similar phrase “The seal of the Holy One […]
Kabbalah at Work
I want to thank Rabbi Tirzah Firestone for trekking down the Boulder turnpike for the last three months to share with us her exquisite style of teaching. We were on her loom, creating together a quilt of the garment of light that the Zohar texts illuminate for us. Her guiding hands and melodic voice of […]
Unbounded Moment
Many of you may not be aware that out of necessity I have a second job. It starts the moment I enter the house and two little girls come rushing toward me. Isabel, the “younger” one, misses me more than her sister and wraps her little arms around my neck, a tight squeeze. Last […]
Reading Between the Candles
Jews have been in America since before it was America. The first synagogue in America, Shearith Israel, was established in 1654 by Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Brazil and finding a safe haven in New Holland. More than a hundred years later, Shearith Israel’s Rabbi, Gershom Seixas, delivered this message on the first national holiday […]