Wildly Unimaginable Blessings: A Prayer for 5781
This new Rosh Hashanah prayer — written this morning — is a response to Covid-19. Since March, since the reality of pandemic and plague struck our…
Read articleAssembly
This prayer is the result of spending nearly two months studying the High Holidays machzor in preparation for teaching my “Mysteries of the Machzor” series. I’ve added…
Read articlePervasive Peace: A 5780 Prayer
In these difficult times, perhaps less is more. On this last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah 5780, I’m offering a simple, one-line prayer to set a tone…
Read articleQueen and King
On Friday evening we yearn for the arrival of the Sabbath Queen, recalling the mystics of Safed who walked into the fields singing to greet her.…
Read articleCreation Sings
Legend says that God created the world on Rosh Hashanah. So, Rosh Hashanah is not only the first day of the New Year and the Day…
Read articleTake Us to the Mountain
This Rosh Hashanah prayer — written at the request of the Central Conference of American Rabbis — appeared in their High Holy Day Resources 2017. The…
Read articleWho, Still Broken
One of the ways my wife Ami z”l attempted her own life was with gasoline. She poured gas onto a grassy midway, ignited it and stepped…
Read articleSweet Cake
For Rosh Hashanah, my secret recipe for sweet cake is this song of the spiritual traveler, an extended metaphor that shimmers with hope and prayer. It’s…
Read articleCongregational Prayer at the High Holidays
A new prayer for 5776. A leader of one of my synagogues in Israel asked me to write a community prayer. The request comes at a…
Read articleThe Greatest Sin
The High Holiday Vidui – the Jewish confessional prayer – contains a broad list of transgressions. This meditation suggests that the greatest sin of all is failure…
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