Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On

Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On (A Reflection of Parashat Pinchas)

When I was a student in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training (JMMTT) program, one of my colleague students would write a weekly reflection on that week’s parashah – or weekly lectionary portion from the Hebrew Bible.

Each week, one of the other students would masterfully integrate the themes, symbols, and ideas from the weekly Torah portion with the fruits of their personal mindfulness meditation practice, telling a story so grand and marvelous that it could only be told through the individual lens of a Rabbi and gardener, an integral psychiatrist, a Hazzan and performer, an artist and activist, a mediator and DJ, a professor and neuroscientist, a singer-songwriter and liturgist, a social worker and yoga therapist, and others. Continue reading “Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On”

All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom

All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom

Over three millennia ago, our Israelite forefathers and foremothers wrestled with their Gods and risked the perilous desert journey from enslavement to freedom. Seven Sabbaths later, God revealed himself, and on that day – as on this day – God spoke, and speaks, to each one of us and All that is Israel. Continue reading “All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom”

What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?

What is Prayer? How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer be Meaningful?

Over the past few months, I have been reflecting very much about prayer. Especially since beginning Rabbinic study and founding Mindful Judaism, I have been exploring the following questions: What is prayer? How do I pray? And can prayer be meaningful?

There is a Rabbi Jonathan Sacks quote in the introductory essays to the Koren-Sacks siddur (Jewish prayer book) that I absolutely love: Continue reading “What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?”