Kol Nidre 5783

I spoke about Outrage and Lament. I spoke about the exhausting, unsustainable feeling of perpetual outrage from the compounding crises we faced as a human family this year. And maybe what we need in the place of outrage is Lament: sacred space to voice our grief, sorrow, and fear so we might rise together out of darkness to build.

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5783

5783 will be a year of joy, because our tradition, our text, our calendar, the sacred way in which we mark time gives us opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to create and celebrate joy.

Erev Rosh Hashanah, 5781

We too, have been wandering. We too, see seemingly insurmountable challenges. And we too have a choice. We can see ourselves as small and incapable. Or we can look our challenges in the eye and say Yachol Nuchal. Yes, this will be hard, but surely we will overcome it.

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780

Seeing the invisible + earnest emotion = Spiritual Imagination

Rosh Hashanah 5780

1. Antisemitism is on the rise
2. It is coming from right and left
3. We cannot be silent in the face of hate

Rosh Hashanah, 5779

Stories aren't ambivalent about their circumstances and they are not ambivalent toward those who receive it. Stories demand. What is your story and what does it demand of you?

What is this Matzah? It’s empathy bread. It is bread that makes us say: this moment is not just about me. It is about all of us.

A blessing to celebrate the miracle of a vaccine for our kids.

A reflection on the power of the afternoon walk during the early stages of the Covid pandemic

During a time of crisis, when it feels like we are perpetually plagued with scarcity, even in that moment, especially in that moment, our tradition insists that we give. We are reminded that we are part of a community. We may be focused internally, rightly worried about our own families and our own needs, tradition wants to remind us to look out. It is that looking out that can give us direction when we feel rudderless.

What are your rituals? What do you do or wear or say each day to remind you of the sacred path upon which you walk? How do you make sure even when times are hard, especially when times are hard, that you know that you have power and purpose?

A message for the Northbrook Village monthly newsletter

The truth is, I’m a bit of a crier. I’m a truth crier. Those moments that tap into something deep and abiding in the universe force saltwater out of my eyes. A natural outgrowth of being a truth crier, is that I’m also an empathy crier. When I see someone else cry, when I see them access their truth, I feel the power of that moment. And, well, the waterworks begin.

An interview on WGN Evening News during the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.