Teach Me
A short meditation on learning Torah from everyone. Teach Me Teach me The Torah That G-d taught Only to you, And I will Teach you The…
Read articleStones of Remembrance
This meditation is based on four lines in Tetazveh (Exodus 28:9-12) instructing the creation of stone shoulder fasteners for the high priest’s Ephod (see postscript). Called…
Read articleReturn Us to You
A prayer in praise and thanksgiving for the ark and it’s holy contents. See also, “Ki Mi’Tzion.” Return Us to You Open, Gateway to holiness! Open…
Read articleGuest Writer: Eliza Scheffler
Eliza Scheffler is a first-year rabbinical student at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. She took my class, “Introduction to Creative Liturgy.” This is what she wrote when I opened…
Read articleTwo Prayers for Matot-Masei 5777
Here are two prayers for this week’s double Torah reading: Matot-Masei. Matot stresses the sacredness of vows to God. They’re serious, solemn and binding. “Vows” portrays…
Read articleV’Zot HaBracha: Unseen Lands
As the Torah closes, Moses goes up from the steppes of Moab to Mount Nebo. G-d shows him the land. He sees from afar. So much…
Read articleHa’azinu: We Are Music
In this week’s parasha Ha’azinu (Deut. 22), Moses sings a majestic farewell song, beginning by calling on the heavens to hear. The Haftarah (II Sam. 22:1-51)…
Read articleAvraham, Waiting (Spoken Word Version)
This is half prayer prayer, half Torah drash written as spoken word poetry. In Tanach, ‘hineni’ — ‘here I am’ — is a response to a direct…
Read articleBreisheit: Evidence of Holiness
In a patch of sky seen from the South Pole, researchers say they have glimpsed the beginning of time, a faint microwave glow of the Big…
Read articleKi Tavo: Be the Blessing
This week’s parasha, Ki Tavo, lists blessings and curses. “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you harken to the voice of…
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