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Jewish Practices, Kabbalah, Philosophy

Good Judgment: Omer 9

April 5, 2021
Good Judgment: Omer 9

Gevurah she’b’gevurah. Judgment in Judgment.  I’ve been waiting for this one. Why? Well, my memory might be a little fuzzy. But I’m pretty sure I wrote my Ph.D.  dissertation about this 30 years ago. So much, I said, goes into making good judgments.  You have to listen and read carefully. Understand a social and political…

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Jewish Practices, Kabbalah, Love, Spirituality, Wisdom

Love Quiets Judgment: Omer 8

April 4, 2021
Love Quiets Judgment: Omer 8

Gevurah. Power. Boundaries. Judgment.  Chesed she’b’Gevurah. Judgment tempered by Love. My husband is a cognitive psychologist. So he has thought a lot about how minds work. How people collect information, organize it, and use it to make judgments. So, today I interviewed him. Here’s a bit of what he said. Raw judgment is dangerous. Let…

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Jewish Practices, Kabbalah, Love, Psychology, Spirituality

Presence in Love: Omer 7

April 3, 2021
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…

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Wisdom

Foundation for Love: Omer 6

April 2, 2021
Foundation for Love: Omer 6

Yesod. Foundation. Yesod she’b’chesed. Pouring a foundation for love. With a little bit of Hod, gratitude, thrown in. How do we create a foundation for love? Surely there’s no right answer. Because people speak many different love languages. And relationships grow in all kinds of soil. (If I may carelessly mix metaphors here.) So here…

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Family, Interfaith, Jewish Practices, Love

Forever Love: Omer Day 4

April 2, 2021
Forever Love: Omer Day 4

Netzach. Forever. Netzach she’b’chesed. Forever Love. What does that even look like? Like a mother’s love? Maybe? We talked about that today, in my Sacred Texts and Oral Traditions class. So many cultures tell stories about the Mother of all life. Why, we asked, is this archetype so powerful? Because, I said, we believe in…

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Family, Jewish Practices, Love, Psychology

Unconditional Love: Omer 3

April 1, 2021
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.…

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Jewish Practices, Love, Spirituality

Boundaries in Love: Omer 2

March 31, 2021
Boundaries in Love: Omer 2

Boundaries. Strength. Good Judgment. You need these to love well. Or, as we say in Omer speak, gevurah she’b’chesed, boundaries in love. So, I’m always working on boundaries. Sometimes, when someone I love asks me to do something, I feel panic. Then, I pause before saying “yes.” And I reflect. What’s the panic about? Do…

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Family, Jewish Practices, Kabbalah, Love, Spirituality

Family Love: Omer 1

March 29, 2021
Family Love: Omer 1

Love. Kindness. Two good translations of the Hebrew word chesed. If you’re counting the Omer, chesed is the word of the week. If you haven’t counted the Omer before, here’s a quick primer. https://www.sophiastreet.com/sefirat-haomer-counting-the-omer/ There are many different kinds of love. But today I want to focus on family love. It’s quite present to me…

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Spirituality, Wisdom

Souls in Soles

March 21, 2021
Souls in Soles

My friend Rev. Beth Hayward just started a new spiritual podcast! And I’m in episode 4 talking about spiritual practice, healing, Shabbat, learning from group meltdowns, and talking to God in hard times.Here’s a little more about the podcast: Souls in Soles is a forum for:– Down-to-earth talk on high-up holy things– Conversations with diverse…

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Wisdom

Maggid of Mezerich: Doing the Work

March 15, 2021
Maggid of Mezerich: Doing the Work

A teaching from the Maggid (teacher) from Mezerich, Ukraine (1700-1722), born Rabbi Dov Ber ben Avraham. He is one of the early Hasidic rebbes. Think of them, perhaps, as traveling psychologists. Or self-help gurus. They’d give talks and webinars, then be available to counsel people one on one. Mostly, they spoke to Jewish audiences and…

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Recent Posts

  • Amazement: Omer 19 April 16, 2021
  • Attachment: Omer 18 April 15, 2021
  • Numinous Beauty: Omer 17 April 13, 2021
  • Justice in Beauty: Omer 16 April 12, 2021
  • Love with Beauty: Omer 15 April 11, 2021

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