“I am also grateful for a new Torah cycle, source of renewable spiritual energy. To roll back to the beginning reminds us that we can choose to live each and every moment with fresh eyes and a heart full of potential”

“May our body be an ark, providing rest and refuge from turbulence and uncertainty. From the stability of this internal resting place, may we meet and accept life’s challenges accessing the internal guidance system of our wisdom to discern right action.”

“The question of deserving something, especially God’s focus, sits at the heart of Parshat Lekh Lekha. Who is Abraham and why did God choose him, of all people? We are meant to care about this deeply because he is the first Hebrew, our maternal and paternal grandfather.”

“We understand that our life is a miracle, but that that miracle will most likely be concluded as it was begun – by forces beyond our control, and without our consent. ”

“In our interactions with family members, friends, colleagues – may we learn from Avraham that every interaction – even those that feel the most weighty and urgent – is an opportunity to lift up our language as an instrument of holiness.”

“We need to uncover and lift up and remove any barriers that we might be experiencing to the wellspring of Torah. May all of us find ways to access the overwhelming expansiveness of Torah in our lives. ”

“He has not yet learned to recognize that God is in all places, and that we, we can know–if only we give ourselves the time and space and skill to look.”

“The wholeness - the shlemut - he finds is not one of perfection or unblemished purity. It is a wholeness that is wide enough and strong enough and deep enough to carry the complex pain and struggle of his life forward. ”

“Just as we can use mindfulness of the past in order to reframe this moment of life, we can also use mindfulness of the future in the same way.”

“When we bravely reclaim our whole selves, even when it frightens us, we open ourselves to compassion.”

“When we are aware, more mindful, we can find the One in the midst of the hindrances themselves. Through the hindrances themselves, in fact, we might draw closer to the One because that is where the One is hidden. ”

“But they, like the land, are ultimately their own, and must have their own identity, in relationship with, but independent of, their parents and guardians. ”

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”

“Tacharishun, I could be still and not judge my habituated thinking... I accepted my unhelpful thoughts with kindness and love.”

“Yet practicing contentment—histapkut—is challenging business because greed has the tendency to obscure our ability to distinguish what we need from what we want. ”

“It reminds me that my narrative and my point of view are only part of a larger story and that humility and openness to others’ views really matters.”

“But holiness is the domain of our world and our experiences. In order to do the deep listening of Shmiah we must ground ourselves in the Asiyah the doing of life. ”

“The antidote to pizzur ha-nefesh is an internal state called menuchat ha-nefesh, a gathering in and settling of soul that supports greater focus, equanimity, balance, and contentment. ”

“While some may associate humility with shrinking the self, Jewish wisdom teaches that true humility is neither acting too small nor too big. Humility is living in sacred alignment with one’s right place.”

“By inviting us to remember that we are all halves of a larger whole, that our existence depends on a larger communal ecosystem of interrelationships, we might remember as well that every part is holy, precious, and indispensable to the health of the larger communal organism of which it is a part.”

“The practice of mindfulness teaches us to be curious about our habits and to greet them with compassion. What might it be like to welcome in a balanced relationship with “doing”—to do neither too much nor too little? To do just enough?”

“When our hearts are moved, the distinction between giving and receiving becomes blurred; in our giving we can experience ourselves as recipients of something more valuable than what we gave away.”

“This week’s Torah portion seems to provide a clear cut process for cleansing oneself of difficult heart-states through the practice of offering over korbanot, a word that is often translated as sacrifices.”

“And the ashes themselves - the burnt, seemingly useless detritus from the previous day - are accorded value in the way that they are handled, an idea that is rich and worth exploring.”

“Do the people rejoice because they feel God’s presence so closely, because they have felt palpably that God’s blessing means life over death? Do they fall or sing because they identify with the animals who have wordlessly given their spirits so the people can feel a release from their human sins?”

“She who is suffering from tzaraat cannot begin to heal nor start the process of reintegration into the community in any real way until she can call out, without shame, and share that pain and struggle with her community.”

“The ritual tracks the endless and natural changes of life, recognizing that often people may feel marginalized and in need of their community.”

“The commandments seem to be providing a roadmap for us as to how to live a holy life in imitation of a holy God.”

“The body of Jewish wisdom - the deep well of texts, teachings, and values that comprise our rich tradition - has no shortage of road signs to point us towards a good life.”

“All I could wonder between the tears was how many generations it would take for these amazing Americans to feel that they too were at home in this country.”

“Parshat Be-Har teaches us about the sanctity of the land which we consider home. ”

“As human beings, as Jews, we begin in the breath of the Divine in our nostrils. God’s presence within, we center our spiritual lives around compassion, lovingkindness, and softening hearts.”

“We may not know what is to come, but we can identify where we want to be going in the deepest of ways, and carve out a personal path to get there, to receive, to welcome (LeKabel) and to rejoice in the best ways we can.”

“May we stand united in life on behalf of all life with passionate determination. May the way we live our lives become an offering to sustain and honor life. And may the words of Torah illuminate the way.”

“There is no escaping the reality that we are material, embodied beings, with physical desires and sensations - a fact which Judaism recognizes and embraces, offering us many invitations to notice and celebrate and sanctify that physicality.”

“How do we help our children learn to see their world, themselves and their place in it from a new vantage point, one in which racial inequity sits closer to the center?”

“It is this power of language that our community takes so seriously every time we step into our beit midrash (study house) to engage in noble debate for the sake of Heaven.”

“And yet, the Torah seems to be communicating a powerful message to us about what it means to have a home and to be at home by the story that
it tells.”

“The years of journeying through the desert have been fraught with challenges, obstacles and uncertainty.”

“It is hard to imagine what it was like for these women, making their way, pursuing their dreams, nurturing their innate talent and battling the forces of nature all around them.”

“The final parsha of the book of Numbers points us to our journeying and the ways in which we experience, recount, and remember where we have been.”

“Yet these bumps in the road have been a profound teaching regarding the nature of impermanence, and the ways in which we suffer by pushing against it.”

“The words that shaped this hard place we have come to know and yet, in this place words escape us.”

“But as we proceed we are never without love (ahava) and unity (yichud) that can be found in the simple and almost silently personal act of saying Shma.”

“This week’s parshah, Eikev, stands as one part of Moses’ parting oratory to the People, and it offers us some beautifully resonant psukim - verses - that illuminate some key markers along this movement towards renewal.”

“Can we continue to create these holy spaces in our lives, in our homes, in our communities and in the wider world today?”

“Do our homes hold the holiness that we strive for? Does our work allow us the opportunity to be challenged and fulfilled, to feel actualized? Are our relationships being realized in their deepest capacity? Are we giving enough time and energy and attention to our inner lives, in the midst of the whirlwinds forever swirling outside of ourselves?”

“But this “remembering to forget,” a kind of forgiveness in its own right, is not a one-and-done kind of job. It must be attended to with patience and gentle persistence.”

“Calling this type of prayer meditative stands out for me after spending time with my colleagues, students, teachers and friends at Orot in a form of meditation that goes inward, that seeks unity, that seeks to stop the clock for a few moments. How can this state of frazzle be meditative and what is it meant to teach me?”

“But usually the effort brings us into places (makom) of inspiration and wonder, where our smallness and limited natures are located within the vast and majestic and eternal.”

“He is scrambling to impart all of the words of encouragement, instruction, wisdom to his people and to his successor, Joshua, before he dies.”

“If we practice inhabiting Shabbat deeply, we are better able to settle into a Shabbat mind, heart, body, and breath on Monday morning; if during Passover we truly taste freedom, we become more skillful at finding our way back to it during moments of constriction during the rest of the year.”

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”