Recent Posts

  • Gemara on THUG-LIFE
    In Talmud studies at Svara: a traditionally radical yeshiva, as at houses of Jewish text study for 1500 years or more, students are asked to recite what is written from memory. At Svara, students are celebrated for giving voice to and “owning” a recitation of a few words, the whole long passage the class has … Continue reading Gemara on THUG-LIFE
  • Same Season, Same Pain
    Seeking new perspective on current, hyper-local grief, I’ve been studying mid-20th Century words from a Chicago Hebrew poet.
  • Aaron and Moses, Thurgood and Sam
    A passage from Shemot appears in Marshall (2017) and sheds light on two sibling-partnerships, one biblical and one historical.
  • Jewish Mourning and Pets
    Resources on pets and mourning.
  • DS9 for Bava Metzia 58b
    Bava Metzia 58b with Deep Space Nine and related commentary with thanks to SVARA’s Mixed-Level Beit Midrash.
  • Teraphim and Elohim, Calvin & Hobbes
    Maybe, the switch of vocabulary indicates that Rachel relates to the teraphim differently than her (male) kin folk
  • Sources, Paths, Prayers and More Notes in the Weekly Portion
    New landing page for sources on the weekly portion.
  • “One of Me” and Genesis 2
    Can we serve as ezer k’negdo [help-meet] for one another? Might Elton John and Lil Nas X be an example of this?
  • Singing and Praying about Enemies
    Musical context is shifting my perspective on “enemies” and “wicked ones” in the psalms.
  • Miriam, Amalek, Memory, and Mouths
    How much do we lose, and what do we gain, when we forget to remember why we chose to remember or forget? What must remembered with our mouths and with our hearts?
  • Remedy of the Bima?
    What is our responsibility, individually and collectively, for what is taught — or not — in our synagogues about reparations?
  • Or Olam: the light ahead and within
    Seeking pieces of liturgy and other resources for uplift, as we try to move from the depths of Av to the new year, “Eternal Light”….
  • Hallelu Avdei Adonai
    A captioned/subtitled video of “Hallelu Avdei Adonai,” from Kaplan & Ziegler’s “Tuning the Soul.”
  • Source of Light, Life
    Verses of Psalm 36, 8-11, appear in many prayer books in association with blessing and putting on the tallit. Here is a melody for verse 10.
  • Whence Comes Help: After Tisha B’av
    Psalm 121 speaks to a moment like ours, with Tisha B’av behind us, but so many disasters and reasons to mourn around us.
  • Eicha for my city and others, 5781
    Alas! How lonely sits the city Once great with joyful people! New horrors fill horizons now while old pain never left Each new loss diminishes the streets themselves bereft Bitterly we weep all night cheeks wet with tears unseen If we are to join together, we must widen this choir of woe When some cries … Continue reading Eicha for my city and others, 5781
  • Reparations Background
    Some resources about reparations, from Jewish and non-Jewish or more general sources.
  • Remembering and Reckoning
    “Until That Day: What Are We?” A first draft (4/17/21) of a poem in response to one associated with Israeli Memorial Day.
  • If one is unprotected: a prayer for DC and beyond
    We are never truly safe, if one is unprotected. Amid sources of division, keep us mindful of interconnectedness, collective responsibility and strength.
  • Psalms for Contemplation
    Excited to share news of Psalms for Contemplation, selections translated by Max Ticktin (z”l).

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