Presence
- 5780, Annual Cycle, Bereshit, Creativity, Dancing, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Dissertation Diary, Farewell, Generations, Genesis, High Holidays, Liturgy, Moses, Parsha, Presence, Rashi, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Torah
Dancing With Creation
Sukkos is the time of our joy, and Simchas Torah offers a highly tangible expression of our ecstatic expression. Whether momentary or mundane, each year we return in joy to the beginning of…
- Aaron, Challah, Death, Fire, Hebrew, Kashrut, Komps Kaos, Leviticus, Offering, Parsha, Presence, Priests, Purity, Rabbis, Shmini, Tabernacle, Vayikra, Worship
A Ceremony of Death & Kashrut
The first chapter of Parashat Shmini ceremoniously presents G!d’s appearance before the Israelites, after a series of instructions which they follow, led by the priests. I really wanted to say unceremoniously, even though…
- Bereshit, Bethel, Bilhah, Dreams, Esau, Jacob, Leah, Matriarchs, Parsha, Patriarchs, Presence, Rachel, Staircase, Tribe, Vayetzei, Zilpah
A Divine Presence
This week, Cincinnati got pretty cold. The weather experts say there’s a polar vortex moving through three quarters of the United States this week – well, I can tell. I’m bundling up on…
- Annual Cycle, Burial, Creativity, Death, Deuteronomy, End, Haftorah, Inheritance, Israelites, Journey, Land, Moses, Nebo, Parsha, Poem, Presence, Prophet, Simchat Torah, Tribe, Vzot haBrakhah
Time Presses On
The end of a year. The end of a cycle. Could it really have come upon us so quickly? Have we really finished reading the Torah again? For a moment a person might…
- Abraham Joshua Heschel, Al Chet, Atonement, Cincinnati, Genealogy, High Holidays, Holiness, Jewish, Jonah, JTS, Liturgy, Love, Prayer, Presence, Reflection, Relationship, Repentance, Sovereignty, Synagogues, Yom Kippur
Close to Angels
This year was my first Yom Kippur spent in Cincinnati, and I davened at Adath Israel, a Conservative congregation where my ancestors attended when they lived in the area. It was a fantastic…