First, it was the names that filled the front page of the New York Times, almost as preparation for what would come next. And then came the announcement in the form of a number:  100,000 souls of this country lost their lives to Covid-19.  And with that the grim recognition that if we had quarantined […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. We have a cartoon hanging on the wall in our kitchen. It is entitled, “understatement of the year.” It shows Moses standing upon the mountain holding the two tablet of the commandments with […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. The curses outnumber the blessings in this week’s double Torah portion, Behar/Behukotai (Leviticus 25:1-27:34. It might feel like that in our own life right now, too. In the penultimate section of verses in […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat.  You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. Remember learning multi-syllabic words for those standardized tests? Or worse, for the weekly vocab tests? (Do they still do that?)  Here’s a useful word to apply to life right now. Tendentious It […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat.  You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. These days have seemed grayer than usual. I’d like to blame it all on the weather. But that is not possible. Too many are cloaked in sadness brought about by the isolation […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. Sometimes the simplest instructions are the hardest to do. This week we turn to the prophetic reading in II Kings 5.  There we learn of the commander of the Aramean army, named Na’aman.  His name meant […]

  This year Passover is an experience of mindfulness. It has been the opportunity to be present in a time when the magnetic force field of Covid 19 persistently draws our anxiety and attention to it. We must be vigilant in that regard. The virus threatens our very existence and we ignore it at our […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat and this week, Passover. The Israelites knew suffering. They understood cruelty and demeaning labor. How could they not as slaves? […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. There have been certain moments in my life when this poem by Mark Nepo has provided me with solace and inspiration. When my father died 21 years ago, I turned to the first sentence […]