Hope and Solidarity. Antidotes — we hope — to uncertainty and anxiety. Across Canada, religious communities have come together. How could this solidarity change us for the better? Contribute to a resilient society? Provide better support for those most vulnerable? In this 30-minute panel discussion, three religious leaders explore those questions. This webinar series is…
Category: Wisdom
Love, if I die today...
My love, if I die today, I want you to know. I love you. I’ve loved my life. And I want you to love yours. So, I offer you this ethical will. A letter from the heart. Just a few idealistic thoughts about a few precious values. A little wisdom to guide you on your…
Emor: Community with room for disability
Priests and sacred offerings. Disability and defect. Also, the death penalty. These are the themes of Parshat Emor, this week’s Torah reading. Emor may seem straightforward. But its view of disability is strange. Because it seems to contradict last week’s parsha. Last week, Parshat Kedoshim said: make sure everyone counts. Rich and poor. Native and immigrant. Mother and father. Landed and landless.…
Spiritual Discipline: A Simple, Beautiful Start
“Rabbi, I’d like to follow a Jewish spiritual practice. How do I start?” The answer is simple. Begin each day with gratitude. End with forgiveness. You may find that this pattern follows your natural daily rhythm. Imagine: you wake up in the morning, after a good sleep. You feel refreshed. The new day has so much potential. There’s so much to…
Reconciliation and Re-Creation: Parshat Pekudei
Human beings can re-create the world, says the Torah in Parshat Pekudei. This is heartening news for Canadians. Only a few decades ago, the Canadian government supported the genocide of Indigenous peoples. But, with the closing of the last Indian residential schools, genocidal polices have come to an end. Today, we hope to restore relationship,…
Death is Weird. Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet
Death is weird. At least as weird as life, anyway. What can you say when a brother or a brother-in-law dies? Someone younger than you. Full of exuberant love. A carpe-diem, take-charge-of-life kind of guy. A recovering addict, who spent a decade healing his family. But whose body didn’t heal. And, just when he had…
Sodom is Evil: Why Didn't I See it Coming?
Sodom. A biblical city. The name evokes evil. Rape. Corruption. Hatred of immigrants. Of course, you know that now. This week. But you did not know it last week. Not really. Last week, in synagogue, we read that the people of Sodom are bad (Gen. 13:13). But we felt sorry for them anyway. Because we saw…
23rd Psalm: A Network of Shepherds
The 23rd Psalm tells us to take care of each other. Sure, the psalm’s plain meaning is that God will take care of us. But what is “plain meaning” in Biblical Hebrew? The language has only 6,000 root words. That’s not enough to say everything people need to say. So, many Hebrew words have more than…
Book of Job: Election-Season Reading
The book of Job. It’s in the Bible, but few of us read it. Because it has no official place in the seasonal cycle of Jewish holiday readings. So, I have a suggestion. Let’s read it during election season. Every year! During election season, we reflect on our values. Try to understand how money, family,…
Argumentation for Theological Scholars
A slide lecture for research students at the Vancouver School of Theology. This was a fun project! A great opportunity to revisit my foundations in philosophical thought.