Should we name our ancestral mothers, the matriarchs or Imahot in formal prayer? Specifically, in the Amidah, the standing silent…
Category: Prayer
Mom's Closet
Friday afternoon in Queens, New York. Dave and I agreed we wouldn’t go to Mom’s empty house alone. You can’t…
Kol Nidre's Spell
“All vows and oaths we take, all promises and obligations we make between this Yom Kippur and the next are…
High Holyday Inspiration
Dogs, missionaries, drifters, munchkins, the mentally ill: all these have helped me better understand our high holyday liturgy. Here are five…
Hallelujah
At the Or Shalom Retreat, Rabbi Dan Goldblatt led us in a discussion of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Stanza by stanza,…
Intuition Under Stress
God spoke to Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they got close to the Presence of God…
Dayenu Take 2: Prophets!
The host of the Seder we are attending on the first night of Passover has a custom of assigning a…
Mindful Compassion
Or Shalom signed on to be a mini “book club” discussing Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to A Compassionate Life. At our…