Netzach. Endurance. Gevurah. Judgment. Netzach she’b’gevurah. Enduring Judgment. Ever read evaluations of your own teaching? Or an event you led? If so, then you know. You might get 28 positive comments, with one negative outlier. And what do you remember most? What lingers in your thoughts and hurts your heart? The one negative comment. Even…
Category: Psychology
Presence in Love: Omer 7
Malchut. Another name for Shechinah, the maternal Divine Presence we can feel in everyday life. Malchut she’b’chesed. Presence in Love. When I was a newlywed, I thought a lot about presence in love-making. How to be fully present to your own experience. And also be fully present as part of a team of two. How…
Unconditional Love: Omer 3
Tiferet. Beauty. Tiferet she’b’chesed, the beauty in love. I want the people I love to find me beautiful. What do I hope they’ll see? I hope my children will see me as wise, calm, and kind. And I hope my spouse will see me as…actually, I’m not sure. Something good? Maybe the details don’t matter.…
Examen: Spiritual Journey
The “Examen.” A prayerful reflection, made famous by the Jesuit leader St. Ignatius of Loyola. Sometimes it takes you to places you could not imagine. Like it took me, today. Examen in Five Steps Originally, the Examen was designed for the end of a day, but you can do it anytime. Just follow these five steps.…
Neighbourhood Tensions Rise
COVID-19 has thrown some of us closer together. But not always for the best. At least, not in my neighbourhood. I live in Vancouver, Canada, in a trendy urban neighbourhood. Here, small one-family homes crowd close together. Old trees and thick hedges surround them. Crows, ravens, woodpeckers, and songbirds fill the landscape. So do racoons,…
Synagogue Life in COVID-19: Care, Conflict, and Teshuvah
A family friend of ours died this summer, from COVID-19 complications. I was the officiating rabbi at his burial. No tahara, ritual washing of his body, had been permitted. We, a small group of twelve, gathered at the graveside. Each of us wore a mask and disposable gloves. We stood six feet apart. After the…
Negative Thoughts, Be Gone!
Negative thoughts, be gone! I’m reading the handbook for combatting demons by Evagrius Ponticus, a 4th c. Christian monk. He clearly states that his demons are negative thoughts. And that he talks back to them–in Bible verses. Evagrius’s handbook is very personal. It’s a long list of his own habitual negative thoughts and the verses…
Fear, Fire, Focus, Moses
Moses at the burning bush. A symbol of hope in response to fear. Last week, I saw how it works. We live next door to a wonderful family. Two parents and three sons. One son is a teen, and two are young adults. The parents live upstairs. And the sons live in the basement suite. Last…
Jacob and Joseph: What Does It Take to Heal?
Jacob and Joseph. Biblical heroes, father and son. Two generations in a single story of hurt and healing. A father who feels himself a failure. And places hope in his son. A son who cannot soothe his father. But learns how to heal himself. Imagine yourself in Jacob’s story. You felt bullied by your older…
Atonement: Must you repent & forgive first?
Repentance. Forgiveness. Atonement. Sounds like a chain of cause and effect. And maybe sometimes it is. If you repent, then I’ll forgive, and then God will grant atonement. But sometimes there’s no chain. Just three different kinds of inner work. Three challenges for three different actors. It’s helpful sometimes to remember. And to focus on…