Jacob’s Ladder to…Where?

Jacob's Ladder to...Where?

In the dream image of Jacob’s ladder, angelic messengers are coming down and going up. In Torah, characters sometimes interpret…

If I lived alone on Planet Laura, I would stop writing about the Pew survey of American Jews, in protest against…

Torah

Each year, before Passover, I take a critical look at my refrigerator. Especially at the shelf on the inside of…

Sarah is upset. She wants Hagar and Hagar’s son Yishmael out of the household. Avraham resists, upset on behalf of…

Dreams: I am a university student, returning to my residence (dorm) after an evening party. A kind security guard welcomes…

Family, Torah

Some years ago, a bar mitzvah student reframed for me the rivalry between twin brothers Jacob and Esau. This young…

When faced with a particularly weighty problem, the Baal Shem Tov would go to a particular place in the woods,…

Ki Hiney Kachomer: We Are As Clay. A beloved piyyut, Hebrew liturgical poem, from the Yom Kippur service. A poem inviting us…

Traditional Jewish thought sees the whole world as a laboratory for learning. On the one hand, everything has value in…