Crossing
A prayer for Shabbat Beshalach in which we hear the Song of the Sea, sung after the just-freed Hebrew slaves, being pursued by armies, make it…
Read articleTeach 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 articleKi Mi’Tzion
This is a meditation to be said before removing the Torah from the ark. It appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.…
Read articleMeditation on Mitzvot
A meditation on bringing holiness into the world through mitzvot. Prayer and Torah are the path. This piece will appear in my forthcoming book, This Joyous Soul:…
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 articleIsrael: A Meditation, Revisited
A new year approaches. It will be here by nightfall. We’ve just buried the last of Israel’s founding fathers and the local news is hinting about the…
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 articleOn Handing Down an Heirloom Tallit at a Bar/Bat Mitzvah
This idea for this prayer was suggested by a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, whom I met while serving as their 5776 Yom Kippur Scholar.…
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