V’etchanan, this week’s parsha. V’etchanan, which means, “I pleaded.”
Maybe when we are charged to love God with our whole two-vet hearts, we are charged with remembering that we are created in God’s image and charged with having hearts that reflect the hearts of one another.
Lonely, sits the city once great with people. She that was great among nations has become a widow. The princess among states has fallen under their power. She weeps bitterly. Her friends offer no comfort. Her allies have betrayed her. Empty of festival pilgrims, her gates are deserted. My eyes flow with tears.
Every year we chant these words on Tisha B’Av and are reminded that lament deserves our time. Pain will not be forgotten, but can be held. There is no just future without having an honest reckoning with our past.
Read MoreYou are not Bill Murray.
I promise.
(Unless you are. But my guess is if you are reading this the odds are good you are not!)
I apologize that you have received emails repeatedly since April 16th alerting you to my Yom HaShoah post. Yes, it would be wonderful if you read it. No, you do not need to read it half a dozen times! Thank you to those of you who let me know.
Read MoreThis reflection written for the University of Saint Thomas Campus Ministry Newsletter
Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins Monday April 20 and continues through sundown Tuesday April 21, 2020. At a time when traditionally we would come together as a community to honor our local survivors and remember those who perished, we will gather virtually to commemorate Yom HaShoah and mark the 75th anniversary of liberation and the end of the Holocaust.
In this d’var Torah, I’m about to share a pretty personal story with you. Most of the time, when we donate blood, or volunteer, or help someone who plans to give remember to stay hydrated, or advocate for science-informed and inclusive donor eligibility policy, the person whose life we are sustaining on the other side of that donation is marvelously ordinary. They are probably so scared. We are helping them hold onto their muchness. And maybe that blood will be all they need. Or, more likely, that blood will mix in with the blood of lots of other people, and all together a life gets sustained. Beth Jacob’s Blood Drive this year is next week on Sunday, January 19, from 8:30-2:30. Donate there. Donate somewhere. Volunteer.
Please do consider committing one of your days to helping someone like me have another one.
Read MoreChanukah Shall we start with the brass-tacks? The stuff we need to know so anything else makes any kind of sense? For me, the miracle of the oil is that beyond all reason, they decided to light it. They rededicated the Temple because there was enough for today. They were enough for today. What a miracle it is when we can take a breath and remember that we are enough. We are enough in this day. And in this day we dedicate ourselves to bringing all of the light and joy and hope and justice and peace and love to the world that we can. T
Read MoreWelcome to the world, and to our community, Moshe Yohanan!
Read MoreImagine! While Miguel and I shared this d’var Torah on the bima at Mount Zion Temple in Saint Paul, back in Honduras Sindy was delivering her baby - the little pumpkin in this picture. As soon as we’d finished speaking, Miguel rushed to the lobby where he got on the phone with Viktor who shouted with joy, “It’s done!” And mama and baby were both doing great. Welcome to the world, little one! When we learn his name in the days or weeks ahead (in Honduras, many people wait to name their babies to see if they will survive.) I’ll be sure to share it here.
Read MoreOne of the great gifts of having been a Jewish educator and youth worker for decades is that many of my ‘kids’ have grown up. This past week, I had the absolute delight to study Torah with the next generation of my ‘kids’ hours after he arrived. Today, I also had the privilege to officiate at his bris and share his name with him, his family, and his community.
Read MoreV’etchanan
Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11
When we form a covenantal relationship, some kind of mystery happens and even as we retain our own identities, we also form something new that only exists within that relationship. In that relationship, perhaps we reside in the leiv hashamayim– in the interior, the center, of the expanse. The heart of the heavens.
Saying, "It's Tisha B'Av" is a little like saying, "It's 9/11." Tisha = 9th. Av is the month we are in. It's a date. This date is the major day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar. The. If you haven't heard of it, I get it, and it might be the biggest day you've never heard of.
Read MoreCHUKAT NUMBERS 19:1 – 22:1
We thought that when God said, “It is not good for human beings to be alone,” (Genesis 2:18) God responded by creating a couple. What the Karen people understand, and we would do well to learn, is that God didn’t stop with that couple. God created us to be family.
This just in: Come to Shabbat AT PRIDE! I’m leading! Shana is singing! ASL Interpreter! Go here for more information!
KORACH: NUMBERS 16:1 - 18:32
A person, he taught, is God’s business partner. Financially, it’s not a 50/50 partnership. Even though within this worldview everything a person gains in the world comes from God, God is a 9/10th stakeholder.
SHELACH: NUMBERS 13:1 - 15:41
There had been something between Miriam and Batya from the moment their eyes settled on one another at the Nile. It wasn’t love, nothing like that. Yet.
BEHA'ALOT'CHA: NUMBERS 8:1 - 12:16
When someone is ill, we go beyond the letter of the law. We find them where they are. We learn what they need and we do something about it. We join them . . . nothing fancy. We just . . . join them. And we reach out with a hand and with others we catch them, or we take on some of their weight. We hold them. El na refa na la.
BAMIDBAR: NUMBERS 1:1 - 4:20
This past weekend, I had the honor of being the officiant in two weddings. On Sunday afternoon, I stood under the chuppah with Heather and Oliver, and shared these words of Torah with them and with their community.
BEHAR - BECHUKOTAI: LEVITICUS 25:1 - 27:34
If we refuse to be alert to the needs of the earth, the earth will refuse to be alert to ours. The wolves also must eat. So must the spiders. And the mosquitoes. And the butterflies. There is a time and place for new understandings of ancient texts. If ever there were such a time, it is now.
*Note: I know that’s not a monarch in that picture!
EMOR: LEVITICUS 21:1 - 24:23
What does it mean to be a Jewish man? I am well-aware of my hubris in challenging the paradigm as a cis-gendered queer woman, but I find the Jacob/Esau dichotomy harmful. I think it fractures our community.
Read MoreACHREI MOT & KEDOSHIM (Leviticus 16:1 - 20:27)
Everything we have ever been as a people informs who we are and who we will become, but it isn’t predictive. We aren’t made to be predictable. We are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God, holy because God is holy, made to be . . . creative. We hold our tradition and our traditions close, but we have also survived because we have embraced changes.
Read MoreTazria Metzora
It’s almost Shabbat. This one isn’t polished. What is it?
Take a look.
