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 […]
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 […]
If the Sole Fits
What do Bill Clinton (2007), Bono (2005), Karen Armstrong (2008) and Sugata Mitra (2013) have in common? They are winners of the TED prize, an annual award of $1million presented to people whose ideas and passions can spark global change. Sugata Mitra wants to spark a revolution in learning by implementing SOLE, self-organized learning […]
David and Goliath
This time David was Goliath. The scoreboard at the final buzzer: Jews 43 Catholics 39. It was the second (annual) basketball game organized by University of Colorado students demarcated by religion. In addition to the two Sanders boys and their friends, the Jewish boys recruited an Israeli named David, a junior who had come to […]
“Mind-Fur-Ness”
“A Tzadik in Peltz” is a Yiddish aphorism that describes a person who is (self) righteous but does not turn his or her righteousness towards others. Literally it means, “A righteous person in a (fur) coat.” As Rabbi Menachem of Kotkz explained: The Tzadik (in Peltz), warmly encased in protective fur, cannot appreciate the shivering […]
Before Kindergarten
I started the blog this week with the following thought: Two year old Eva (Sanders) has come up with some wonderful sayings on her quest to learn the English language. When I typed the word learn I stopped. How does a child learn English or any language? We typically think about learning as a conscious […]
The Yin and Yang of Grief
According to legend, the panda was once an all-white bear. When a small girl tried to save a panda cub from being attacked by a leopard, the leopard killed the girl instead. Pandas came to her funeral wearing armbands of black ashes. As they wiped their eyes, hugged each other, and covered their ears, they […]