Humility as Antidote for Hubris

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On January 27, 2017
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. I am the Eternal. Ani Adonai. (Exodus 6:2) Clear and to the point. Unequivocal. This declaration, which begins this week’s Torah portion, was meant to help Moses adjust to his mission to redeem the Jewish people from the most narrow place. Its emphatic […]

Posted by Suzie Jacobson
On January 20, 2017
2 Comments
Exodus, politics

Today is Friday, January 20th, 2017. Today Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States of America. This Shabbat, Jews everywhere read parashat shemot, our book of freedom. The book that gives us the image of a parted sea, a mixed multitude crossing together in song. The book that gives […]

Know Nothing

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On January 20, 2017
0 Comments

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection. The new Pharaoh we meet as we begin the book of Exodus doesn’t know of the power of the women of the people he despises. He doesn’t know much about the men either. “A new Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph,” (Exodus 1:8). He proceeded to make sweeping […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On January 13, 2017
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we prepare for Shabbat. Endings and Beginnings. Death and Life. Unanticipated Results. The Book of Genesis ends and leads us to the beginning of the Exodus. Jacob, who thought his beloved son, Joseph, had been killed by a beast, lives to see his son again. Jacob dies […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On January 6, 2017
0 Comments

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. In last week’s Torah portion, I wrote about the trajectory of Biblical Joseph’s life from the “pit to the prison to the palace.” I first learned about this idea years ago at a rabbinic conference in North Carolina from a Christian […]

Adult

Youth

Humility as Antidote for Hubris

Trump is President and We are Awake

Know Nothing

The Descent

The Unapologetic Flower