For a few days now, I’ve watched a tiny spider flash across my windshield. No insects live in my car, so I know this spider has been hungry. This morning I tried to save him. When he paused on the window, I pulled over to the curb. I grabbed my tools: a piece of paper…
Category: Prayer
I Just Called to Say "I Love You"
Friday morning I was waiting for the bus on Fraser Street in front of a convenience store. Gradually, amid the urban hum, I became aware of a human voice screaming curses. A young man stood at the pay phone in the convenience store parking lot, yelling into the phone. I imagined a voice at the…
Naked Reflection
This semester, I am teaching a course called “Midrash and the Rabbinic Imagination” at the University of British Columbia. Yesterday, students turned in the first formal paper, during a very busy midterm week. So, we relaxed with a little Bibliodrama: improvisational theatre exploring what takes place “between the lines” of the Hebrew Bible. We explored…
Praying for Presence
One day in the course of my recent work, I sat with four different people: one trying to rescue a relative lost in a foreign country, one who narrowly escaped danger alive, one making an uncertain career transition, and one hospitalized after a suicide attempt. Each one hoped for clarity, affirmation, and connection. Each one…
Rachel & Leah in the Amidah
“Rachel and Leah answered, saying, is there a place for us in our father’s house?” (Bereisheet/Genesis 31:14) Should the names of the Imahot (matriarchs of the Jewish people) be included in the first paragraph of the Amidah prayer, along with the names of the Avot (patriarchs)? Arguments Against (1) We’ve always done it without them. (2) Prayers are largely made up of…
Unselfish Prayer?
In Jewish tradition, we think of prayer as tefillah, self-examination; shevach, praise; and bakashah, request. Traditional bakashot are unselfish general requests that benefit many: healing, world peace, good weather for the planet. But when Abraham’s servant Eliezer sets out to find a wife for Abraham’s son, he offers a rather self-serving and specific bakashah. “God,” he prays, “send me a young woman who will offer water to my camels, because that’s the kind…